The surprising box office success of the Christian film “His Only Son” is bringing Christian content to the forefront. The film, which tells the story of Abraham being told to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, found in Genesis 22, was made on a budget of $250,000. To date, the film has made over $12 million at the box office. The film was crowd-funded by Angel Studios, which also helms the successful series “The Chosen” and the animated kids’ show “The Wingfeather Saga,” based on the book of the same name by Andrew Peterson. David Helling, director of “His Only Son,” joined Fox News Digital to discuss the film’s success. 

 The film is the director’s first film, and he revealed his motivation for sharing the story. “My reason for wanting to do ‘His Only Son’ is to give an answer to the scoffers and the skeptics, for one, and to give a defense to believers that they could then answer the skeptics in their own lives,” he said. “So, to be able to dig into the word and draw out what the Lord was doing and what the Lord was pointing to in the testing of Abraham’s faith, that’s what I wanted to do and why I wanted to do this film in particular,” he went on to add. The film’s success is getting noticed. “I think Hollywood is taking notice because, at the end of the day, they see, OK, well, if there is revenue to be made through this type of entertainment, they might then now put more resources behind it. And because of that, we will start to see more and more of this content come out for a season.” The recent success of “The Jesus Revolution,” which made over $50 million at the box office, might also be peaking Hollywood executives’ interests. Helling, however, cautioned discernment. “We need to be more discerning. Just because it’s got the name of Christ on it, or it’s got the name of the Bible on it, or it talks about God, it doesn’t mean that it’s true.” 

There are more Christian films upcoming. “Nefarious,” based on a book by Christian and political commentator Steve Deace, was released last weekend. The film deals with an atheist psychiatrist who must evaluate a death row inmate who claims to be a demon. Although the film is rated R, like the explosively popular “Passion of the Christ,” which earned over $600 million at the box office, the film has received many endorsements. Dr. Ben Carson endorsed the film on his Facebook, writing, “Nefarious raises the bar — considerably — in the faith-based genre. It has the writing, acting, production value, and tone of so many beloved 1990s psychological thrillers such as Se7en but from an unabashed Christian worldview. Disregard its undeserved R-rating and instead use its slick trailer to convince all your unbelieving friends and family to go see it with you. Both of you will be challenged and entertained in all the right ways.” “Big George Foreman” is due to come out on April 28th. The film deals with the world champion’s conversion to Christianity. Ron Block, a 14-time Grammy winner who recently spoke with Beliefnet, revealed that he believes the hunger for Christian content comes from a human hunger for “more.” “Humans are a hunger. We were created that way, to be born with need – the need for love, security, strength, protection, self-worth, and many other things. We grow up learning to grasp things, situations, and people, trying to fill those needs,” he said. “When society begins to crumble when all our established patterns of life are threatened, it’s a perfect opening for a move of God. Self-satisfaction, self-sufficiency, comfort, and ease can be barriers… Complacency brings boredom, and boredom brings error. Error brings sin, and sin crumbles the society.”