The Star (2017) is produced by Affirm Films, a company under Sony that produces and distributes mainly conservative Christian films.
The markings on Bo's back make a cross.
Christopher Plummer plays King Herod the Great. In Jesus of Nazareth (1977), Plummer played Herod the Great's son, Herod Antipas, on the council that sentenced Jesus to death in the Easter story.
Kristin Chenoweth's character, Abby, says she is a pygmy jerboa. That is an actual animal, described as a hopping desert rodent.
Although the film was not a huge box-office hit, it broke even. Sony Pictures was pleased as they realized the film would always have a limited theatrical worldwide market because it was pitched at children from Christian families and with a Christmas theme based on a story in the New Testament. Hence, they deliberately kept the budget low. However, they also hoped that if it were critically well-received (which it mainly was), then financially, it would do well in future television sales as with annual showings on television networks almost guaranteed for years to come.