A Great Awakening (2026)

Most of A Great Awakening happens in an old man’s memory. Benjamin Franklin, at the Constitutional Convention, looks back on his life, and over 129 minutes that frame keeps the drama at a polite distance. The heart of it is a friendship most of us never heard about in school. George Whitefield, the traveling preacher, comes to Philadelphia, and Franklin, the practical printer, can’t believe how far one man’s voice reaches over a crowd. They become business partners, with Franklin printing Whitefield’s sermons, and then real friends who disagree about the biggest question there is. The film takes Whitefield’s faith seriously and gives Franklin’s doubts room to breathe too, which is rarer than it should be. The talky scenes can feel more like a lesson than a story. Moviegoers handed it a rare A+ on CinemaScore. A 6.1 because this friendship is genuinely moving even when the storytelling is stiff. $291 says George Whitefield becomes your late-night search tonight, and you lose a full hour to his old sermons.

What works: The friendship between a printer and a preacher who disagree about faith is told with warmth and real respect for both men.

What doesn’t: The flashback structure and long runtime keep the drama stiff, and too much of the story is explained rather than shown.

Who it’s for: Churchgoing families and early American history fans who want a sincere story about faith and an unlikely friendship.