Despite passing the approval of over 1 million Angel Guild members, Angel Studios’ announcement of the film has been hit with criticism across social media. Included in the criticism is backlash for distributing a film that features a voice actor, Laverne Cox, who is a trans, and Jim Parsons, who is married to a man.
“Laverne Cox and Jim Parsons. A trans and a homosexual star in the new Angel Production,” one person wrote on X. “You remember when Angel started they were fighting Disney and rallied hundreds of millions of dollars to build something completely different outside of the Hollywood system?”
Another posted, “Wonder if any of the Harmon Brothers can give the Christians who funded the work of Angel an explanation as to why they should watch ‘Animal Farm’ with their kids if it has a trans actor in it? Is this what we can expect now that you IPO?”
“New from ‘conservative Christian values’ movie makers Angel Studios, a stomach-churningly ‘cute’ version of ‘Animal Farm’ turned into cringe ‘equality’ slop, starring noted transexxual activist Laverne Cox and far-left Hollywood degenerates like Seth Rogan,” one mother wrote. “But it’s the creative here that’s the problem. Absolute mess.”
Someone said, “Wow! I did not realize this was from Angel Studios. I’m really disappointed and dejected learning that.” Another posted, “Welp @AngelStudiosInc I thought you were going to be a real alternative to modern Hollywood. Clearly I was wrong.” The subscriber continued, “Enjoyed quite a bit of your content but now that you’re clearly grifting Christians I’ll be cancelling my sub to your streaming service and avoiding your products.” [Editor’s Note: The founders of Angel Studios belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.]
The trailer on Angel Studios’ YouTube channel has over 36,000 dislikes and only 3,400 likes. Commenters criticized the trailer for being too cute and predicted Orwell’s classic will end with a “random dance party with party scene with the pigs and humans dancing to something like ‘Uptown Funk.’”
“Chicken run (2000) is darker than this adaptation,” someone else commented. Another said, “We owe the 1954 and 1999 versions an apology.”
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Another predicted Serkis’ adaptation won’t be faithful to the book. “I was expecting it to be dark and faithful to the original book (or film) good work Angel Studios, but WE WILL NOT BE WATCHING.” An Angel Studios supporter posted, “This is so disappointing. I will not be contributing to your productions again.”
“This looks horrible. As in, so bad it could make me drop my support for Angel. Absolutely no one attached to this project has the credibility to adapt Orwell’s work,” someone replied under Angel Studios’ film announcement on X.
“The director is an avowed socialist. There is zero chance this will be a worthy adaptation of one of the most profound anti-socialist works ever,” the user continued. “As an Angel subscriber, I am shocked to see Angel’s name attached to this anti-capitalist slop and will be reconsidering my support.”
Amid the backlash and questions, Angel Studios’ co-founder Jeffrey Harmon responded on social media by sharing a link explaining how the Angel Guild picks movies.
When ChurchLeaders reached out for comment, Angel Studios replied, “Animal Farm is anti-communism and anti-cronyism.”
*This article has been updated with Angel Studios’ comment.
