This past Friday a rarity happened with the Hollywood box office – a Christian movie based on the Bible titled His Only Son premiered in theaters.

The film is based on the story from the Old Testament of patriarch Abraham as he is commanded by God to sacrifice his only son, Isaac. For you zoomers out there, this predates The Binding of Isaac the game by a few thousand years.

Produced by Angel Studios on a meager $250,000 budget, the film raked in $2.1 million on its opening day and a grand total of $5.3 million (via Deadline) over its entire opening weekend.

His Only Son was co-written and directed by former U.S. Marine David Helling, who served our country from 2005 to 2010 and had a tour in Iraq. He went to film school via the G.I. Bill and His Only Son is his first feature-length film.

Here’s a brief synopsis on the film, plus a trailer:

Abraham (Nicolas Mouawad), his son, and their two servants journey for three days to the place of the offering. Along the way, the men encounter dangers and trials as Abraham silently relives memories spanning the decades he and his wife Sarah (Sara Sayed) longed for the son God had promised…the son he must now lay upon the altar.

Answering age-old questions as to why the Lord would require such a sacrifice, HIS ONLY SON profoundly explores mankind’s relationship to God and encourages viewers to turn inward and ask: Can your faith still stand when you are asked to give everything?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zo2V5CQMuJw

His Only Son is now showing in over 1900 theaters nationwide.

This is Niche Culture. In this column, we regularly cover anime, geek culture, and things related to video games.