Known for everything from the Alan Ritchson-led Runner to Andy Serkis' Animal Farm, Angel Studios is about to make one big change.
Reworked from the VidAngel brand by brothers Neal, Daniel, Jeff and Jordan Harmon and cousin Brenton Crane, Angel Studios memorably began making a name for themselves in the industry as the original distributors of The Chosen before Prime Video took over. They swiftly followed it up with the polarizing hit Sound of Freedom and steadily expanded with a variety of different genre releases, most of which have either earned their money back, or been genuine successes.
Now, during an appearance on Fox News, Angel Studios co-founder and CCO Jeff Harmon revealed that they have developed a new policy for all of their films and TV shows in which they are banning the use of sex scenes, nudity, F-words and blasphemous usage of God's name. In addition to the new policy, the studio is also updating their streaming platform to include a voting system to ensure their members approve of the content, with Harmon stating:
Jeff Harmon: We promise there’s never going to be nudity, and there’ll never be sex on screen. [Angel is a] faith-friendly studio. I think Hollywood generally kind of lives in a bubble. These are excellent craftsmen. They’re the best storytellers in the world. Hollywood has built the best storytelling infrastructure in the world. But at the same time, they’ve kind of drifted more and more away from the values-based audience that they used to serve.
Harmon went on to offer some further clarification about Angel Studios' new voting system, which is being made available for paying Angel Guild members, currently numbering around three million subscribers. The films and TV shows will need to receive a score of at least 70 out of 100 in order to be included in Angel's streaming library, with the CCO describing it as "the first time in history that a major Hollywood studio...[is] going to let the audience have a veto."
Angel Studios' decision to put an outright ban on sex scenes, nudity, usage of the F-word and misuse of God certainly doesn't come as much of a surprising one. As Harmon noted above, they have always touted themselves as a faith-based studio, putting out titles that fit the mold of their goal for "values-driven" content.
No more is this evident than in the directly religious adaptations Angel has continued to produce, even after Prime Video overtook the rights for The Chosen franchise. The past few years have seen the releases of both an animated series and film chronicling the life of shepherd-turned-Israelite King David, the latter of which scored largely positive reviews and a modest box office haul of $91 million, and the Oscar Isaac-starring King of Kings, which overcame its mixed reception for a strong $83.5 million gross.
Even still, some of Angel's recent works have found themselves venturing into territory that risked going against their traditionally softer palettes. The Alan Ritchson and Owen Wilson-led Runner pushed its PG-13 rating to the limit with its action and dialogue, as did Serkis' Young Washington with its American Revolution battle scenes, though the latter went on to be a box office success.
Given they are now cracking down on a variety of elements regarding their content, the question is now going to become how far Angel Studios is looking to pull back on what's in their films and TV shows. There has long been a debate about whether violence or other explicit forms of content have a bigger impact on viewers, and with the studio clearly keen to stay true to their faith-based values, some members may start to turn away from even the more successful action-based fare.