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Season Four of “The Chosen,” the streaming series megahit about the life of Jesus of Nazareth and his disciples, will first be released in theaters in February, show creator and director Dallas Jenkins has announced.
Mr. Jenkins revealed the unique distribution plan Sunday evening at The Chosen Insiders Conference, or ChosenCon, a gathering of 3,500 fans in Dallas, Texas.
The fans also saw the trailer for the fourth season, whose production has been spared from the Hollywood actor’s strike by a special agreement with the labor union.
The first three seasons have garnered more than 600 million episode views, and the show has picked up more than 10 million social media followers, producers said.
“After seeing the Season Four episodes, we knew we’d be doing our fans a disservice if we denied them the chance to see them all on a big screen with others they can laugh and cry with,” Mr. Jenkins said.
Kyle Young, vice president of international for “The Chosen,” said “over a million people” viewed the Season Three episodes in theaters, and “fan demand” pushed producers to first air the new season on large screens.
“In general, no one has released an entire TV series ever in theaters, so wish us luck. It’s going to be an adventure,” Mr. Young told reporters before the ChosenCon event.
The producers said the rollout of the new episodes will occur during two-week flights at theaters in the U.S. and Canada via Fathom Events. The first three episodes will be screened beginning Feb. 1, with episodes 4-6 premiering on Feb. 15. The final two episodes, 7 and 8, will be shown beginning Feb. 29.
A Los Angeles premiere for the fourth season’s episodes is slated for Jan. 17, said Katherine Warnock, vice president of original content. She said a “global tour” to introduce the new season will reach Britain, Brazil and Poland with an event in Miami as well.
The premiere episodes will also be shown in theaters in Australia, Britain, Latin America, New Zealand and Poland through “a consortium of distributors,” the announcement stated.
A streaming debut on the show’s app will be announced after the U.S. and Canadian theatrical release is completed, Mr. Young said.
Producers said a Christmas special will be screened in U.S. and Canadian theaters Dec. 12-17. Fathom Events will distribute the production called “Christmas with The Chosen: Holy Night.” The production will blend “The Shepherd” precursor to the series with the 2021 Christmas program “The Messengers.”
Along with earlier musical performances, the new production features a duet by Andrea and Matteo Bocelli and two new monologues. Tickets for the Christmas special screenings will go on sale Nov. 20.
The producers said the series is slated to become the most-translated television series in history. The first three seasons will soon be available in 50 languages, with versions to be subtitled in more than 600 others, they said.
Additional information about the series is online at www.thechosen.tv.
• Mark A. Kellner can be reached at mkellner@washingtontimes.com.
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