The Chronicles of Narnia producer Cary Granat is teaming with director David L Cunningham (The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising, Running for Grace) and Oscar-winning visual effects artist Ed Jones (Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Happy Feet) on In the Beginning, a new faith-based family action-adventure feature that aims to tell the Biblical story of creation.
The film will use cutting-edge motion capture and hybrid CGI visual effects to turn the story of Genesis, from the creation of the universe to the Garden of Eden, into an Imax-worthy cinematic event. Cunningham, the son of well-known Christian missionary Loren Cunningham (founder of Youth With A Mission), has written and will direct In the Beginning with Walden Media founder Granat and Jones producing together with Jonathan E. Lim (My Penguin Friend). City Hill Arts will produce and act as a financier on the film.
“For billions [the creation story] is the template for the origins of life, but it has never been told with the universal and powerful language of a major motion picture,” the producers said.” In the Beginning will be a call to action to go back to theaters and for those who experience it, and will celebrate themes of gratitude and unity.”
The filmmakers plan to combine the biblical creation story, a text common to the Jewish, Christian and Muslim religions, with the latest in astrophysical research to be both faithful to scripture and scientifically accurate. “They’ve met the Pope twice to talk to him about the project,” says David Garrett of Mister Smith Entertainment. “But they’re also consulted with top astrophysicists from CERN so that what will be depicted on screen will be something akin to what the Big Bang would have actually looked like. It won’t be God’s hands molding trees and oceans.”
Mister Smith screened a 15-minute presentation for the film to AFM buyers in Las Vegas on Tuesday. They are handling international sales and are pitching the project as a PG-friendly, visually spectacular theatrical experience with appeal beyond the (already sizable) faith-based audience.
“It’s designed to be something that appeals not just to evangelical Christians and Christians, but across the board, even to those who are not believers,” says Garrett.
Faith-based cinema has long since gone mainstream, thanks to global hits like the Narnia franchise and indie breakouts like Soul Surfer (2011), Son of God (2014), and the God’s Not Dead franchise.
The In the Beginning filmmakers are already tapping into faith groups and churches, including the Vatican, World Evangelical Alliance, Youth With A Mission, and Our Daily Bread, to generate excitement and ticket sales. Currently in pre-production, In the Beginning is scheduled for a December 2026 global launch.