'Aladdin' star Mena Massoud teases 'Daniel' sequel after box office success

Mena Massoud is hopeful audiences haven't seen the last of the biblical prophet Daniel on the big screen, as the 35-year-old actor and producer says the success of "Daniel: The Fiery Furnace" has opened the door to potential sequels, including exploring the prophet's most famous encounter in the lions' den.

But the "Aladdin" star cautioned that while the filmmakers are eager to continue Daniel's story, the future of the franchise depends on the performance of the Kooman Brothers biblical epic.

"Creatively, we all want to make it, but we've got to sit down and kind of just go by it," Massoud told The Christian Post. "Which is why it's important for people to continue to go out and support the film."

"At the end of the day, this is a business, and we did crowdfunding, so you know we take that with great importance as well. People have put their hard-earned money into the film, and so we want to make everybody whole and hopefully make everybody feel good about the results before we talk about doing a second one."

Released Sept. 18, "Daniel: The Fiery Furnace" earned more than $3.3 million domestically during its opening weekend across more than 1,500 theaters, landing at No. 6 at the domestic box office and ranking as the nation's top independent and faith-based film.

Produced on a reported $2 million budget, the PG-13 film also remained among the top 10 domestic releases during its second week, according to Massoud, who also starred in Disney's 2019 live-action "Aladdin," which grossed more than $1 billion worldwide,

"You never know what to expect with any theatrical release," he said. "I remember on my ‘Aladdin’ days, when the film first came out, we were projected much lower, and got much higher results than we were expecting."

"But for this film, we just wanted to spread the message of the Gospel, and of course, have people see it," he continued. "With independent films, if it doesn't do well the first week, theaters can pull you very quickly. They don't have as much patience with independent films."

Written and directed by brothers Matthew and Daniel Kooman, "Daniel: The Fiery Furnace" follows Daniel’s early years as the young Jewish prophet is taken captive from Jerusalem and brought to Babylon, where he must navigate the demands of King Nebuchadnezzar without abandoning his devotion to God. 

The film also follows Daniel's companions Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, whose refusal to worship a golden statue leads to their condemnation to a fiery furnace.

Elijah Alexander, known for portraying Atticus in "The Chosen," stars as Nebuchadnezzar, while Massoud portrays Daniel and serves as a producer alongside the Kooman brothers and Travis Mann.

Massoud, who was born in Cairo, Egypt, and raised in Canada, said his upbringing in the Coptic Church influenced his love for Bible stories and played a significant role in his decision to participate.

"I grew up in the Coptic Church and grew up doing Stations of the Cross in elementary school and high school," he said. "So, portraying my art form through my faith was something I'd done on an amateur level growing up. So, to get to do it on a professional level was primarily why I wanted to do this."

The Kooman brothers previously shared with CP how God moved on the set of the film, including powerful winds sweeping through the set while the actors were speaking Scripture. 

The duo also shared how the independent project was an act of faith; they prayed tirelessly before production began, asking God to guide the film and prevent it from moving forward if it wasn't meant to happen.

“We’re still telling their stories today because of those acts of faith,” Daniel Kooman told CP. “So can we live with that kind of faith and see God deliver us in our own lives?”

Similarly, Massoud said he identified with Daniel's story as someone uprooted from his homeland and forced to establish a new life in an unfamiliar culture.

“My story is also an immigrant story," he said. "At the end of the day, Daniel is an immigrant in this film. He's an immigrant for most of his life. He gets stripped from his home in Judah and into Babylon. I left Egypt at a young age and immigrated to Canada."

Daniel’s story of courage, he emphasized, is particularly relevant for younger generations navigating social media and an increasingly uncertain cultural landscape.

"It's important to remember your faith and your morals and what you stand for when that stuff comes at you very quickly, all day, every day,” he said, adding that the film serves as a reminder to "stay grounded and remember where you came from."

The success of “Daniel” comes amid a growing appetite for biblical entertainment, with projects including "The Chosen" and "House of David” highlighting the commercial potential of Scripture-based storytelling.

Massoud credited the genre’s success partly to studios recognizing an underserved audience and partly to viewers' desire to see beloved biblical accounts brought to life.

“There was a pent-up desire for them, and now they're finally happening," he said. "People are looking for a way to stay true to their faith through entertainment. It's one thing to open your Bible and read these stories, and we've all done that since we were kids, but to see them come to life in this way is incredible.”

As for Daniel's future, Massoud said the prophet's biblical journey offers plenty of material for additional films, including the lions' den and his eventual return to Jerusalem.

"Daniel serves under four different kings in his tenure in the kingdom of Babylon before he eventually goes back to Jerusalem, and that's a very full-circle, sweet moment. If we can get there creatively, would be fantastic," he said.

"There's a lot to pull from if we're going to do a second and/or third film. The story of Daniel only gets more and more exciting."

For now, he hopes audiences leave the first installment with a renewed understanding of what it means to remain faithful and courageous while pursuing success in a world that often rewards compromise.

"You want to move up in your job, you want to buy a bigger house, you want all of these worldly things, but how do you do it without compromising your faith, without compromising who you are?" he said. “You can sell out to get to where we want, but how do we stay true to who we are? That's the story of this first film."