A teenager in juvenile detention asked for the Jesus story set in his neighbourhood. The film opens Friday.

Tickets are sold through the film's own site, godwithusmovie.com. No ticket price, running time or certificate has been published, and neither has a screen count or a distributor.

Nothing has been announced for India — no cinema date, no streaming, no video on demand. Every source we could find describes a United States release only.

The film exists because a 16-year-old serving time for murder told Jenkins the Gospel would make sense to him if someone set it on his own street.

Jimmy Jenkins was preaching in a juvenile detention facility when a boy interrupted him.

"He said, 'Hey, Jimmy, ain't no point of you preaching to us. God can't save us. You know we're murderers,'" Jenkins told The Christian Post last week. The boy was 16, and he was inside for murder.

He had tried reading the Bible, Jenkins said, and could not follow it. Then he made a request that most preachers would have taken as a brush-off and that Jenkins took as a commission.

"He said, 'Jimmy, man, you make movies. You do this for a living. Can you just teach me the story of Jesus, but just put it in my neighborhood so I can better understand it?'"

That film opens on Friday.

What he actually made

God With Us moves the Nativity into a present-day American inner city. Mary Anne Thomas and Joseph "Junie" Love are childhood sweethearts. Her pregnancy arrives without explanation, and what follows is less about the miracle than about everyone around them deciding what to believe.

The detail in the reporting suggests Jenkins took the boy's instruction literally. Mary Anne is born to a mother struggling with crack addiction and goes through school in special education classes. Three boys argue about why every picture of Jesus they have seen shows a white man. A woman pressed to give money she does not have asks her pastor about the car he drives.

The film opens with a disclaimer saying it is not an attempt to rewrite the Gospel. That card is doing a job. A Nativity in which the holy family is poor, young, unmarried in the eyes of the neighbours and talked about behind their backs is not a departure from Luke. It is closer to Luke than most of the versions we are used to, and it is the kind of thing a film has to say out loud before someone says it for you.

Who is behind it

Jenkins is a Maryland native who started directing and producing in 2013, working at BET and Tyler Perry Studios. He staged high school plays first; in 2016 he put on a production called Black Boy Blues in front of a live audience of more than 10,000. His first feature, Sinners Wanted, came in 2017 and went out on TV One and BET Plus.

Since then he has mostly made documentaries: Basketball County: In the Water for Showtime in 2020, with Kevin Durant as an executive producer, and Nothing But a Winner in 2025, about University of Alabama football. God With Us is only his second scripted feature.

He is the son of Pastor John K. Jenkins Sr of First Baptist Church of Glenarden. The Christian Post reports that his father served as an executive producer on the film; no other source we read mentions it.

The site carries two endorsements. One is from Pastor Mike Jr: "This is powerful. It reminds you that Mary and Joseph weren't polished Bible characters." That is the film in a sentence, and it is the hardest thing about the Nativity to hold on to after enough Christmas pageants.

The other is from Pastor John K. Jenkins Sr: "If you've ever wrestled with disappointment, questioned your faith, or wondered where God was in a difficult season, this movie is for you." He is the director's father, which the site does not mention.

What has not been announced

A good deal. No distributor is named anywhere, and the site's own small print points only to God With Us Movie, LLC. There is no published running time, no certificate, no ticket price and no screen count.

One thing that was unclear has now settled. Crosswalk and The Christian Post both said select cinemas while the official site said only that the film was coming to theatres. The production's own promotional artwork answers it: "in select theaters November 13-15". That is a three-day engagement with an end date on it, which is a different proposition from a release you can catch the following weekend. If you want to see it, that is the window.

And nothing at all has been said about territories outside the United States. No Indian date, no streaming window, no video on demand. That is worth stating plainly rather than leaving readers to assume a release is coming, because a film at this scale may simply never get one.

Why it is worth your attention from here

Most films about faith are made for people who already have it. This one was commissioned, in effect, by someone who had been told he was past saving and did not believe the story applied to him.

"That's the people I'm trying to reach," Jenkins said: "the 16-year-old murderers, the juveniles who are in prison." It is an unusual thing for a filmmaker to say about his target audience, and it is the reason this one is worth watching even from a country that has no date for it. The question the boy asked is not an American question. Any congregation that has watched young people decide the Bible is about somebody else, somewhere else, has heard a version of it.

Questions people are asking

When does God With Us come out? It runs from Friday 13 to Sunday 15 November 2026 in select United States cinemas. That is the whole engagement as currently advertised — three days, not an opening weekend of a longer run.

How long will it be in cinemas? Three days, on the advertising so far. The production's artwork says "in select theaters November 13-15", and nothing published extends it beyond the Sunday. No second window, digital release or streaming date has been announced.

Is God With Us releasing in India? Nothing has been announced. There is no Indian cinema date, no streaming platform and no video on demand window published anywhere we could find.

What is the film about? It retells the Nativity in a present-day American inner city. Mary Anne Thomas and Joseph "Junie" Love are childhood sweethearts who face suspicion and judgment when she becomes pregnant.

Who is in it? Ashley Olivia Fisher of Average Joe and Aspen Kennedy of The Forge lead, with Rotimi, Lil Rel Howery of Get Out, Gregory Alan Williams of Remember the Titans, Ashley Rios, Roger Guenveur Smith of Do the Right Thing and Clifton Powell of Ray.

Who is Jimmy Jenkins? A Maryland filmmaker who began at BET and Tyler Perry Studios in 2013. He made the feature Sinners Wanted in 2017 and the documentaries Basketball County: In the Water and Nothing But a Winner. He is the son of Pastor John K. Jenkins Sr of First Baptist Church of Glenarden.

What inspired the film? A 16-year-old serving time for murder told Jenkins, while he was preaching in a juvenile detention facility, that he could not follow the Bible and asked him to put the story of Jesus in his own neighbourhood so he could understand it.

How long is it, and what is it rated? Neither has been published. The trailer runs two and a half minutes; the feature's running time and certificate are not stated on the official site or in any coverage we read.

How much are tickets? Not published. Tickets are sold through godwithusmovie.com, which lists showtimes rather than prices, and prices will vary by cinema.

Is it trying to rewrite the Bible? The film opens with a disclaimer saying it is not. It is a modern parable that moves the setting, not a revision of the Gospel accounts.

Can a church book a group? Group tickets are offered for the opening weekend, 13 to 15 November, through the film's own site. Read the small print first: its terms describe a group request as "a request for assistance only", which does not guarantee tickets, seats, showtimes or pricing.