An Unproduced Animated Feature Musical
Screenplay by Coleman Luck & Carel Gage Luck
Directed by Glen Keane
Music by Two-Time Academy Award Winner Al Kasha & 16-Time Grammy Award Winner David Foster
Lyrics by Al Kasha
The Story Behind the Screenplay
In 1998, broadcaster and producer Pat Robertson assembled a coalition of financiers to develop an ambitious animated musical about the life of Jesus Christ. Conceived as a major theatrical feature, The Greatest King was planned with a budget in the range of $50 million to $90 million, and a major film distributor was attached. Academy Award-winning songwriter Al Kasha was brought on to write the music and lyrics, while Coleman Luck and Carel Gage Luck were commissioned to write the screenplay.
When the screenplay was completed, it circulated through Hollywood and received an enthusiastic response. But the industry was also reacting to the opening of DreamWorks’ The Prince of Egypt in December 1998. Although that film ultimately attracted a substantial worldwide audience, its initial box-office performance was regarded by some as disappointing. Concern about the commercial risks of an expensive biblical animated musical led the distributor attached to The Greatest King to withdraw. Despite subsequent efforts to revive the production, the project never moved forward.
The screenplay was also unusual for another reason: it was written under a Writers Guild of America contract at a time when animated feature writing was rarely covered by the WGA. We believe it may have been among the first fully animated feature projects developed under such an agreement, a distinction that attracted attention of its own.
More than a quarter-century later, we are pleased to make the original screenplay available to read, a glimpse of an extraordinary animated musical that might have been.
The Story
Long before the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, a rebellion shakes the heavens. Lucifer, the most beautiful of angels, turns against the Creator and is cast down with his followers. From the Garden of Eden onward, the fallen angel wages a relentless campaign for the hearts and souls of humanity. Yet through the long centuries of human history, a promise endures: a King is coming whose power will be greater than anything the forces of darkness can imagine.
That King arrives not in a palace, but as a baby born to Mary and Joseph in a humble stable cave. While earthly rulers scheme to protect their thrones and an ancient supernatural enemy plots His destruction, Jesus grows into a man whose compassion and authority astonish everyone He meets. He heals the broken, welcomes the outcast, challenges the powerful, and gathers an unlikely band of followers. Among those drawn into His orbit is Zach, a hapless royal spy whose increasingly comical assignment takes an unexpected turn.
Through spectacular heavenly choruses, mischievous songs of villainy, moments of humor, and intimate music of forgiveness and hope, The Greatest King presents the Gospel story on an epic canvas. The conflict that began before Creation follows Jesus toward Jerusalem, where the powers of darkness gather for what they believe will be their greatest triumph. But the King they seek to destroy has come to win a very different kind of victory.
An animated musical of cosmic spectacle and deeply human emotion, The Greatest King is ultimately the story of a ruler who conquers not through armies or earthly power, but through sacrificial love.
Download the Original Screenplay (PDF)
Rights and Ownership
Rights and Availability
The Greatest King is presented here for historical and reading purposes. Unlike other screenplays featured on this website, it is not currently available for option, sale, licensing, or production through Thorncrown Studios. The present ownership and rights status of the project has not been established. Any future development or production would require identification of the appropriate rights holders and negotiation of the necessary agreements.
