Harmon Brothers’ Angel Studios Unveils 2024 Faith-Friendly Film Slate

(L–R) Neal Harmon, Jeffrey Harmon, and Jordan Harmon, co-founders of Utah-based Angel Studios, in an undated photo. (Kelly Neish/Bella Day Photography)

Angel Studios recently unveiled the release dates for several upcoming projects including “Possum Trot,” a film based on the true story of 22 families in East Texas who adopted 77 children from the foster care system.

Angel Studios’ Chief Content Officer Jeff Harmon describes the feature film as a sequel to “Sound of Freedom.”

“If every church in America did what they did in Possum Trot, we would immediately, almost overnight, end child sex trafficking in the United States,” Mr. Harmon told The Epoch Times. “The filmmakers went and lived in Possum Trot, Texas, with this church for years to make this film. It’s beautiful.”

“Possum Trot” will premiere in theaters July 4.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Administration for Children and Families reviewed statistics from several studies and found that up to 90 percent of children who were victims of sex trafficking had been involved with child welfare services, including foster care.

“There’s a foster care crisis in America and people aren’t aware of it,” Mr. Harmon said. “This movie just rocks people.”

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Another upcoming release from Angel Studios is “Sight,” which will be in theaters starting May 24. It’s about a Chinese immigrant who escapes communism, becomes a renowned eye surgeon, and restores the sight of a blind orphan.

Other projects scheduled for release in 2024 and 2025 are “Bonhoeffer,” “Homestead,” and “David.”

Studio History

Mr. Harmon co-founded Angel Studios in Utah along with his brothers, Neal Harmon and Jordan Harmon, in 2021.

The Harmon brothers are familiar with sibling rivalry and experience moments of disagreements, Mr. Harmon said, but overall the trio has gotten along well enough to catapult themselves to unexpected success.

“If you’re working with siblings, you have to be very forgiving and very understanding,” he said.

As previously reported by KSL-TV, Angel Studios is a brand reincarnation of the filtering service VidAngel, which the Harmon brothers founded in 2014. The company filed for bankruptcy after being sued by Hollywood studios for copyright infringement.

VidAngel was sold and now operates under the name VidAngel Entertainment, while Angel Studios deals in content and crowdfunding.

In 2023, Angel Studios was No. 8 on the list of that year’s top grossing film distributors, following Universal, Walt Disney, Warner Bros., Sony Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Lionsgate, and 20th Century Studios.

Gigafund, which is one of the largest investors in Elon Musk’s SpaceX, also invested in Angel Studios.

“They said they basically saw the three of us brothers together as the CEO of the company and that it didn’t matter which one of us was CEO as long as it’s one of us and we’re all working together,” Mr. Harmon said.

The Harmon brothers have released multiple film and television hits, including “The Chosen,” “Dry Bar Comedy,” “Cabrini,” “The Tuttle Twins,” and “Sound of Freedom.”

“Sound of Freedom,” about a former government agent who frees children from a trafficking ring, was the No. 1 movie on July 4, 2023. Deadline previously reported the film generated $249.5 million globally and $184.2 million in North America last year.

“I am amazed at what’s happening,” Mr. Harmon said. “I was very surprised by how big ‘Sound of Freedom’ was because we had projected $100 million dollars tops.”

Goals and Motivation

Mr. Harmon attributes the studio’s success to people turning their backs on nihilism—a way of life that rejects morality, knowledge, or meaning—and seeking to replace it with faith-friendly content instead.

“Nihilism is what’s mostly been produced for the last two decades, even though all of the great classics have a positive view of the future and don’t shy away from God,” Mr. Harmon said.

Examples of God-themed popular movie classics include “It’s a Wonderful Life,” produced in 1946, and “The Shawshank Redemption,” produced in 1994.

“There’s just been this period of time where a group of executives is making all the decisions about what people are going to watch and those executives live in a bubble in Los Angeles,” Mr. Harmon added.

The Harmon brothers were motivated to launch Angel Studios to solve a problem they were experiencing in their own families involving a dearth of entertainment that’s appropriate for children.

Their success is anchored in crowdfunding and independence from the Hollywood movie studio system.

“It’s an industry that is exceptionally high in mental illness that can destroy lives,” Mr. Harmon said about Hollywood. “I would consider us very successful if we’re able to build an alternative economy for film that is wholesome enough that I can feel comfortable with my kids or grandkids coming into the industry and telling stories.”

With the U.S. entertainment industry projected to grow nearly 11 percent to $14.68 billion by 2027, according to Statista, the Harmon brothers likely have the time and space to achieve that goal.

No completed film project, script, or screenplay is undertaken by Angel Studios unless first approved by the Angel Guild, a 250,000-strong worldwide network of creators who choose which projects to fund.

“We have eliminated the Hollywood gatekeeper model,” Mr. Harmon said. “Angel Studios cannot accept a film—and I’m the chief content officer—unless Guild members approve that film. I can’t override them. The Angel Guild is the gatekeeper.”

Filmmakers are asked to pay $250 when submitting their projects to the Angel Guild on the Angel Studios website.

In 2023, out of 550 films that were submitted to the Angel Guild, 13 were accepted and $82 million was crowdfunded.