A Great Awakening

Name: A Great Awakening
Duration: 2 h 9 min
Rating: 4.884615384615385

2hr 9m

A GREAT AWAKENING, tells the true story of an unlikely friendship between the Reverend George Whitefield and Benjamin Franklin that resulted in one of the most defining moments in American history.

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Trailer 1 (01:12)

Movie Info & Cast

Director:

Joshua Enck

Producer:

Steve Buckwalter, Troy Thorne

Writer:

Jeff Bender, Jonathan Blair, Joshua Enck

Release Date:

Apr 3, 2026

Runtime:

2hr 9m

Synopsis

Exploring the friendship between renowned preacher George Whitefield and Benjamin Franklin, and Whitefield's impact during the pivotal Great Awakening religious movement.

Cast

John Paul Sneed
Jonathan Blair
Josh Bates
Joe Dignoti
Stephen Foster Harris
Zac Johnson
Matt Meyer

Moviegoers are saying

A Great Awakening divides audiences like a lightning rod, with faith-based viewers praising its inspiring portrayal of Benjamin Franklin's spiritual journey, while secular critics find themselves struggling to stay awake through heavy-handed sermonizing. The film's focus on Franklin's relationship with evangelist George Whitefield delivers quality production values and strong performances, but many reviewers wished for more of Franklin's fascinating inventor-scientist-statesman sides beyond just his religious awakening.

Top Mentions

Faith-Based

Preach-Heavy

Sleep-Inducing

Hamilton-Deprived

Sermon-Cinema

Christ-Centered

Summary generated from the text of Atom User reviews

Letterboxd User Reviews

3.1

RATINGS 10 FANS

3.1

Jun 13, 2026

Went into this thinking that I had never really seen a good Ben Franklin movie. Left thinking the same thing was still true.

197 Likes

Geoff Ketchum

Jun 21, 2026

I know that this is based on real U.S. history, but I have to question how historically accurate it is. I mean, NOT ONCE does Alexander Hamilton break out into a rap battle. I know he did in real life because I saw a whole documentary on Disney Plus about it called…

21 Likes

Xeremy Hall 🟠🟢🔵

Apr 10, 2026

i have been so indoctrinated by lin manuel miranda that during the constitutional convention, for a split second, i was taken aback by the fact hamilton wasn’t rapping

73 Likes

baby frankenstein ♱
Apr 3, 2026

See, I was almost very into to this but the final 45 mins bored me too much to make me push the grade of this lower. If it somehow was shorter, this would be so much better but it too long as is. I would say this is the kind of quality angel studios should aim for when…

55 Likes

🏳️‍⚧️💕Belle Forger💕🏳️‍⚧️

Apr 8, 2026

It’s funny to call your movie “A Great Awakening” when all it did was put me to sleep. 2026 Ranked

49 Likes

Jake Alda Coffey

Apr 4, 2026

So admittedly NOT the target audience of this movie, it's watchable but the Christian propaganda is laid on a bit hard. Woman in my row was saying "hallelujah" the whole film😭 +0.5 stars because someone from my hometown worked on the crew of this movie and did a lot of…

40 Likes

timafei
Apr 5, 2026

Gonna go triple platinum for libbed up fundamentalist Christians who love an afternoon walking history tour of Philadelphia I will say, the slavery mic drop vine boom was a nice touch

33 Likes

Connor McDowell

Apr 3, 2026

I would really encourage watching this film with an open mind and heart. It’s hard to watch a movie like this during such a dark time in America, and truthfully I don’t really feel in the mood to celebrate virtues like liberty and freedom while I’m seeing those rights be…

27 Likes

jessiethesushi

Apr 14, 2026

Yall make movies about literally anything

24 Likes

Noah DiVincenzo

See All Reviews on Letterboxd.com

Queue Community Reviews

100%

Community 126

❤️ LOVE

58%

👍 LIKE

42%

😐 MEH

👎 DISLIKE

Top Reviews

Sherilee Nimon liked

A Great Awakening

A good look at American history and Rev George Whitefield.

2M

Sergio Zavala liked

A Great Awakening

👍🏼

2M

Atom Users Reviews

4.9

POPULAR TAGS

#inspiring

#mustsee

#truestory

#familyfriendly

#greatcast

#great

Reviews

BM

Bryan Miller

Sight and Sound produces high quality films which are historically accurate and biblically grounded. Story is moving and challenging!

SB

Shannon Bowles

#familyfriendly

#inspiring

#truestory

It showed the Love of God for people, whether they were good or not. I love movies that show people who we know about from history as real.

EN

Elaine Nord

#inspiring

#mustsee

#seeingitagain

A beautiful picture of History meets the spiritual!
LW

Lisa Wells

#mustsee

#familyfriendly

#truestory

Wonderfully directed with the true story being well presented. A fantastic message!! Great cast, great sets, great costumes!!

JF

Joseph Franceus

#inspiring

#mustsee

#familyfriendly

What an awesome, inspiring movie. It was one crescendo to the next for the entire movie. An amazing movie that had no lulls. The friendship between Franklin and Whitefield is wonderfully depicted.

SF

Susan F

#preachlikegeorge

#inspiring

#mustsee

FABULOUS FABULOUS MOVIE!!! We should be out there preaching like that
JR

Jim Riley

#inspiring

#epic

#familyfriendly

An awesome movie with a powerful story with excellent acting

CL

Cindy Lovell

#mustsee

#familyfriendly

#truestory

It was a very wonderful inspiring movie. Very good characters and acting.

DL

Dan Laskowski

#inspiring

#mustsee

#great

Very suprising movie. The story was engaging and the interplay between George Whitefield and Benjamin Franklin was fantastic!

Read all 26 customer reviews

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Frequently Asked Questions

How long is A Great Awakening (2026)?

The movie is 2hr 9min long.

What's A Great Awakening (2026) about?