When Variety presented a Spirituality& Entertainment Brunch hosted by the Coalition for Faith & Media at The Sundance Film Festival the line to get in was down the street. The response to the event confirmed what the Coalition for Faith & Media already knew – faith has a place in film.

The Faith & Media Initiative recently released findings from its Faith & Entertainment Index conducted in partnership with research consultancy, HarrisX. The survey revealed 92% of entertainment consumers – approximately 180 million potential viewers – say that faith has a role to play in modern entertainment and 77% believe that faith in mainstream entertainment can have broad appeal. Brook Zaugg, Executive Director of the Coalition for Faith & Media, says getting faith right is a real business opportunity for Hollywood.

“What people cared about was authenticity, accuracy, different perspectives in a faith and characters exploring their faith,” Zaugg says. “What they reject is content that’s preachy or mocking.”

Projects centered on faith are already proving to be moneymakers. The animated film “David” which tells the story of the brave Jewish shepherd boy who defeated Goliath to become the favored King of Israel made $22 million in the opening weekend and more than $70 million in domestic ticket sales. The film “The Chosen: The Last Supper” following the final days of Jesus made $35 million at the box office. The animated film “King of Kings’ following the life of Jesus grossed $45 million in ten days, earning more than $83 million globally surpassing “The Prince of Egypt.”

The Amazon Prime series “House of David,” following the story of the favored and controversial King of Israel hit #1 on the platform after it debuted in February of 2025. The FAMI findings show that when it comes to television, Americans are drawn to faith content that’s relatable.  The team conducted over 12,000 interviews with viewers about their reactions to more than 100 scenes featuring faith related themes from contemporary film and television. Additionally, more than 38,000 social media comments related to these scenes were analyzed for insight. Zaugg says faith content that reflects the human experience with a bit of humor is what moves audiences.

The top three performing scenes were from the popular tv shows “The Pitt,” a medical drama about an Emergency Room in Pittsburgh; “Young Sheldon,” a spinoff series of ” The Big Bang Theory” that depicts the childhood of the character Sheldon Cooper and “Nobody Wants This,” a romantic comedy series that follows the relationship between an agnostic woman and Rabbi. Zaugg says themes that explore universal themes like interfaith romances, doubt, purpose and belonging transcend religion.

“When we looked at the top 10 scenes of who liked what it didn’t matter the faith tradition,” Zaugg says. “Christians liked Muslim and Jewish content and vice versa, because the values are the same. Regardless of what faith practice those values are unifying.”

The study shows that all generations see the potential for faith rooted storytelling with Generation Z and Millennials having the highest percentage at 79% and 83% respectively. The FAMI findings are also consistent across political party lines with Republicans at 82%, Democrats at 75% and Independents at 73%.  The study has been revelatory says Zaugg who says there’s a belief that one group owns faith, but in reality, it’s important to everyone.

“Equally important is the social impact for reducing division, because we do feel polarized,” Zaugg says.

The findings correlate with other social trends such as a decrease in alcohol consumption among  Generation Z. According to a UCLA 48.4%  of Gen Z wants less sexual content in films. Gen Z is also twice as likely than older generations to turn off a film due to sexual content.

Since Zaugg has been involved with Faith & Media, she’s found so many people of faith who work in Hollywood but feel like they can’t express it. Many want to bring those values to their work and know it’s important to find a middle ground.

“When you start to understand that these themes are important to everyone and when you know and understand your neighbor, and that they actually believe very similar to you on a lot of things, it can do tremendous social good.”

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)