In a story befitting its source material, the Biblical film “David” is more than holding its own against some true Goliaths at the Hollywood box office.
Produced on a modest budget by Angel Studios, the faith-based epic arrived without the marketing muscle, celebrity overload, or franchise pedigree that usually define theatrical success in 2025 — and yet audiences showed up in force anyway.
And they’ve kept showing up into the film’s second weekend.
That’s no small feat in an industry dominated by sequels, reboots, and nostalgia plays engineered in corporate boardrooms.
While Hollywood’s biggest studios continue chasing algorithm-approved hits, “David” has quietly carved out something rarer: genuine word-of-mouth momentum.
The result is a film that isn’t just surviving its theatrical run, but thriving — outperforming big-budget competitors and reminding the industry that audiences still respond to stories rooted in timeless themes rather than intellectual property spreadsheets.
According to Forbes, the stylized story of King David — transformed into a musical for theatrical release — raked in $22 million its opening weekend.
That’s a record for Angel Studios, besting the $19.6 million that “Sound of Freedom” made in its opening weekend in 2023.
Now, as all movies do, “David” did see a drop in its second weekend, bringing in over $12.5 million, per Box Office Mojo.
But despite that drop, “David” is still holding its own against some notable Hollywood franchises.
Take the faith-based movie’s fellow second-week films.
“The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants,” based on the extremely popular children’s cartoon franchise, barely topped $11.1 million in its second weekend.
And “Five Nights at Freddy’s 2,” a sequel horror film based on the popular video game franchise, petered out at roughly $4.4 million.
Even compared to some films that debuted that weekend, “David” won out.
“Song Sung Blue,” a Hugh Jackman-powered musical about a Neil Diamond tribute band, opened to $7.1 million in its debut.
As a matter of fact, the second weekend of “David” was closer to matching the No. 2 movie of the weekend, Disney blockbuster “Zootopia 2” ($19.8 million), than the Disney film was to matching the undisputed king of the box office in “Avatar: Fire and Ash” (a whopping $63.1 million).
And adding to the film’s mystique, there were rampant rumors that Disney and Paramount tried to pressure theaters into limiting screenings of the film:
We’re now learning that Disney and Paramount are allegedly bullying theaters out of showing David. We’ve seen stunts like this tried before… #PromoteDavid https://t.co/7EHIjtZZOA
— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) December 19, 2025
Whether those rumors are true or not, the success of “David” shows that there is a clear — and lucrative — craving for faith-based fun at the theaters.
Whatever Hollywood’s gatekeepers may think (or have done), audiences have made their verdict clear. David didn’t need a cinematic universe, a nostalgia-fueled reboot, or a nine-figure marketing blitz to compete — it just needed a story people actually wanted to see.
In an era when studios routinely underestimate faith-based audiences, the film’s box office run is a reminder that this segment isn’t niche, passive, or predictable. It’s engaged, loyal, and willing to show up when something resonates.
In the end, the success of “David” feels almost poetic. A modest production facing down blockbuster titans, buoyed by word-of-mouth and audience enthusiasm, is a tale as old as time — and as relevant as ever. Hollywood may keep betting on the armor of spectacle alone, but “David” proves that the smooth stones of substance, sincerity, and a little courage can still move mountains… or at least knock a few Goliaths off their perch.
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