Angel Studios Adopts 'Angel Promise' Banning On-Screen Sex, Nudity and the F-Word

Angel Studios, the Provo, Utah-based company behind "Sound of Freedom" and "The King of Kings," has adopted a set of content standards it calls "The Angel Promise," barring on-screen nudity and sex, the F-word and what it describes as misuse of God's name, while giving its paying Guild members a formal veto over every film and series it carries. The company, which trades on the New York Stock Exchange as ANGX, announced the policy on Thursday, Oct. 29, describing it as a commitment to its approximately 3 million Angel Guild members.

Co-founder and chief content officer Jeff Harmon outlined the initiative in an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, published that morning. "We promise there's never going to be nudity, and there'll never be sex on screen," Harmon said.

Three commitments

According to Angel's announcement, the Angel Promise rests on three commitments. The first is that the Guild always decides: if a film or series scores below 70 out of 100 in member voting, it does not enter what the company calls the Angel entertainment ecosystem. Members vote under a Guild Pledge to choose projects that are "true, honest, noble, just, authentic, lovely, admirable, or joyful."

The second is a set of what Angel calls "non-negotiable standards" for all future films and series: no nudity and no sex acts on screen; no release of original films or series that misuse God's name, which the company defines as irreverent or profane use; and a language standard that bars the F-word in any story and bans profanity in titles submitted for children 12 and under. The release states that "sincere, reverent, or devotional use in any faith is respected."

The third commitment covers parental controls. Guild members will collectively set recommended age ratings and plain-language story notes for titles, and new controls rolling out in the Angel app will let parents tailor what plays in their homes. "A PG-13 rating from the MPA isn't precise enough for families seeking values-based entertainment," Harmon said in the announcement. "Our Guild tells parents what's actually in a film, and our parental controls let each family decide what plays in their home."

What the rules cover

A detailed Angel Promise page on the company's website says that below the 70-point threshold, "a title does not come to Angel. There is no override," and that if the Guild vetoes a film, "not even we as founders can decide to take it." The page lists three boundaries that it says "hold permanently and will never change": no nudity on screen, no sex acts on screen and no misuse of God's name. The language rules are also mandatory, but the company says they are not permanent "because the meaning of certain words changes over time."

The page notes that the rule on God's name applies to Angel's original productions. For stories already produced, it says, the company offers parental controls "so each family can decide what belongs in their home." Violence is not covered by a fixed rule. "Violence is a grey area, and grey areas belong to the Angel Guild, so the Guild votes on every title," the page states.

Harmon's case for the policy

In the Fox News Digital interview, Harmon framed the standards as a response to the broader industry. "I think Hollywood generally kind of lives in a bubble," he said. "These are excellent craftsmen. They're the best storytellers in the world. Hollywood has built the best storytelling infrastructure in the world." He added that the industry has "kind of drifted more and more away from the values-based audience that they used to serve."

"This is the first time in history that a major Hollywood studio, or top 10 studio in the United States, has come and said, we're going to let the audience have a veto right," Harmon told Fox News Digital. Variety and Deadline reported on the policy on Friday, Oct. 30, both citing the Fox interview. Variety noted that Angel's recent releases include "Runner," "Young Washington" and "David," with upcoming titles including "Drummer Boy," "Angel and the Badman" and "Zero A.D.: The Birth of Christ."

Harmon told The Christian Post that the standards are meant to outlast the company's founders. "We're trying to build a 100-year-plus company," he said. "How do we make sure that in 50 years to 100 years this thing doesn't just go off the rails and become Hollywood rather than blazing its own path?" The outlet reported that in July, co-founders Neal and Jeffrey Harmon transferred more than 10 million super-voting shares into the Angel Mission Trust, an irrevocable arrangement intended to preserve the company's independence and values. According to The Christian Post, Harmon said the restrictions are not intended to prevent filmmakers from exploring difficult subjects, and more than 100 projects are currently being evaluated by Guild members.

The business behind the Guild

The Guild is the center of Angel's business. In a Sept. 14 release, the company said the Guild had surpassed 3 million paying members, doubling from 1.5 million on Aug. 23, 2025. Members pay recurring fees, screen films and series before release and vote on which projects Angel distributes in theaters and on its app.

Angel's second-quarter 2026 results, reported Aug. 4, showed Guild revenue of $90.7 million, up 93.8% year over year and about 81.2% of total company revenue of $111.7 million. The company reported a net loss of about $23.8 million for the quarter and positive operating cash flow of $16.9 million, and said it had seven theatrical releases slated for the second half of 2026. Angel's corporate description says its model shares profits with filmmakers, with cumulative earnings of nearly $300 million. The Christian Post reported that Angel became a publicly traded company in September 2025.