Angel Studios’ ‘Drummer Boy’ Wins Over Moviegoers With an Impressive CinemaScore

Angel Studios has spent the past few years building a reputation for faith-driven crowd-pleasers, and its newest release continues the trend. ‘Drummer Boy’, the studio’s patriotic PG-13 war musical, is being well received by opening-weekend audiences. Angel calls it its first live-action theatrical musical.

It’s also off to a solid start at the box office. At 2,850 theaters, ‘Drummer Boy’ is third with a $3.8M Friday and a projected $9M opening, according to Deadline. That’s an improvement on pre-release expectations, when the film was eyeing around mid-single digits, with around $3M in presales.

Moviegoers clearly liked it. As box office analyst Luiz Fernando pointed out, ‘Drummer Boy’ received a strong A CinemaScore, matching Angel’s own ‘Young Washington’. He noted it’s Angel’s 10th release to earn an A, alongside titles such as ‘Sight’, ‘Cabrini’, ‘Bonhoeffer’ and ‘Sound of Hope’, with only ‘Sound of Hope’, ‘The King of Kings’ and ‘Sound of Freedom’ scoring higher with an A+.

The story mixes war with family drama. Brothers Jeremiah and Benjamin find themselves on opposite sides of the Revolutionary War and have to question their own beliefs as the war brings them face-to-face on the battlefield. A press release described it as a “Christmas musical”, and its poster carries the tagline “Forgiveness is revolutionary.”

Audiences have spoken!!! #3 In a weekend of strong crowd pleasers, #AngelStudios also has a release of their own beloved by moviegoers, as patriotic PG-13 war musical #DrummerBoy is received with a STRONG A #CinemaScore, on par with #YoungWashington’s A! 10th A for Angel’s releases, on par with #Sight, #Cabrini, #Bonhoeffer, #BraveTheDark, #TruthAndTreason, #TheSenior & #HisOnlySon, #David & #YoungWashington’s A, coming above #Homestead’s B, #TheShift’s B+ & #Sketch, #AmoreMio & #AfterDeath’s A- and only under #SoundOfHope, #TheKingOfKings, & #SoundOfFreedom A+

— Luiz Fernando (@Luiz_Fernando_J) November 7, 2026

There’s a real-life parallel behind the camera. The film is directed by Ben and Joel David Smallbone, with Joel David starring in the title role and Lucas Leach, Ioan Gruffudd, Melora Hardin, Charles Esten, Beth Easdown, Iain Glen and India Brown in supporting roles. Joel David said making a story about a divided family alongside his brothers, as both a director and an actor, was among the most rewarding work of his life, he said in Angel’s announcement.

The project took a long time to reach theaters. The Smallbone brothers had been developing it since 2019, when they workshopped the idea with the Erwin brothers. Angel officially unveiled it at CinemaCon in April, and filming began in Ireland later that month.

The music comes from the band at the center of the project. Angel describes the film as an action-musical from 4-time Grammy-winners For King and Country. Early reviews from faith-based outlets have praised the production, with Movieguide highlighting the high production value, dramatic battle scenes, excellent cinematography and strong performances from Smallbone, Lucas Leach and India Brown.

Official trailer for ‘Drummer Boy’ 🥁 • Directed and starring the Grammy-winning duo For King & Country • Follows two brothers on opposite sides of the Revolutionary War In theaters November 6 https://t.co/9QxArh5w1F

— Culture Crave 🍿 (@CultureCrave) October 12, 2026

The economics look good for Angel. ‘Drummer Boy’ reportedly had a $10 million budget, so a $9M opening puts it close to breaking even in its first weekend. A strong CinemaScore usually points to good word of mouth, which could help the film hold steady through the holidays.

The timing works too. With a Christmas theme baked into the story, Angel has a seasonal release that could keep drawing families as December approaches. It also follows ‘Young Washington’, which Angel released on July 3 and which earned the same audience grade.

‘Drummer Boy’ opened against stiff competition. Deadline projects ‘Godzilla Minus Zero’ to lead the weekend with a record-setting $30M-$33M debut for a live-action foreign-language film, while ‘The Cat in the Hat’ also debuts this weekend.

Finishing third against those films is a good result for a mid-budget original musical. With audiences responding this well, ‘Drummer Boy’ looks set to become another success for Angel Studios.

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