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Hollywood's New Bible StoriesLured by public-domain source material and epic adventure stories ripe for big-time specialeffects, studios and filmmakers are rediscovering the Good Book; Russell Crowe as Noah.

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Photos: Biblical Hits and Misses

By ERICA ORDEN

When it sets sail in the coming film "Noah," a massive 148-foot wooden ark will

carry not only a slew of zoo animals, but one of Hollywood's biggest wagers in

years.

"Noah," a $125 million epic from Viacom's Paramount Pictures, starring Russell

Crowe and directed by Darren Aronofsky, is one of a boatload of religious films in

the works from major movie studios.

There are compelling economic

reasons for Hollywood to embrace the

Good Book. The studios are

increasingly reliant on source material

with a built-in audience, something the

Bible—the best-selling book in history

—certainly has. And like the comic-

book superheroes that movie

Hollywood is embracing the Bible, with several biblical tales in the works. The studios are increasinglyreliant on source material with a built-in audience, something the Bible-the best-selling book in history-certainly has. Erica Orden has details on Lunch Break. Photo: Everett Collection.

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1. Opinion: The Jackson Damage

companies have relied on for the past

decade, biblical stories are easily

recognizable to both domestic and the

all-important foreign audiences. What's

more, they're free: Studios don't need

to pay expensive licensing fees to

adapt stories and characters already in

the public domain.

With floods, plagues, burning bushes

and parting seas, Bible movies make

great vehicles for big-budget special

effects, a key selling point for a wide

swath of audience members.

Paramount is hoping "Noah" will

connect with religious Americans who

"may not necessarily go to more than

one or two movies a year," said

Paramount Vice Chairman Rob Moore.

In addition to "Noah," Time Warner's

Warner Bros. Pictures is developing a

movie about Moses, tentatively titled

"Gods and Kings," which Steven

Spielberg is in talks to direct, according

to people familiar with the matter.

Warner Bros. also recently acquired

the script for "Pontius Pilate." Another Moses project, "Exodus," is in development

at News Corp.'s 20th Century Fox, with Chernin Entertainment producing and

Ridley Scott expected to direct. (News Corp. also owns The Wall Street Journal.)

Sony Pictures is developing "The Redemption of Cain," a supernatural film loosely

inspired by the fratricidal tale of Cain and Abel, a project slated to be Will Smith's

directorial debut. And Lionsgate will distribute "Mary, Mother of Christ," which is

being billed as a prequel to "The Passion of the Christ."

Not since the 1950s has Hollywood been so smitten with scripture. After World

War II, Hollywood relied on religious epics as vehicles for its biggest stars,

particularly Charlton Heston, who carried both 1956's "The Ten Commandments,"

about Moses' exodus from Egypt, as well as 1959's "Ben-Hur," about a Jewish

prince sent into slavery and rescued by Jesus, only to witness Jesus' crucifixion.

Cecil B. DeMille's biblical epic "Samson and Delilah," released in 1949, was

another hit.

By the 1960s, however, several epic-style biblical movies flopped, including 1965's

"The Greatest Story Ever Told," which cost $20 million, a substantial sum at the

time, and took in only $1.2 million. As a result, pricey religious movies and

musicals were blamed for the movie industry's financial troubles during those

years, said Drew Casper, a film historian and professor at the University of

Southern California. "These were genres to be avoided from this point on," Mr.

Casper said.

Everett Collection

The Ten Commandments (1956) | StarringCharlton Heston, and Yul Brynner, the four-hourfilm about Moses's exodus from Egypt stands asone of the most commercially and criticallysuccessful films of all time.

View Slideshow

Photo Illustration by Mick Coulas

For the studios, the commercial benefits ofreviving biblical movies could be substantial.

Enlarge Image



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The postwar secularization of American

culture that gained momentum in the

1960s and '70s caused biblical films to

fall further out of favor, Mr. Casper

said.

The last overtly biblical film to capture

mainstream audiences was "The

Passion of the Christ," Mel Gibson's

2004 movie about the crucifixion of

Jesus Christ, which took in $611.9

million world-wide. But few solidly

biblical tales have found major

commercial success in recent years.

DreamWorks Animation SKG's highly

touted 1998 animated film "The Prince

of Egypt" took in $218.6 million world-

wide, below expectations.

For the studios, the commercial

benefits of reviving biblical movies

could be substantial. For one, the

comic-book heroes Hollywood has

banked on for the past 10 years require

studios to pay licensing fees with

publishers, authors and heirs who own

copyright to the characters. Walt

Disney's Marvel Entertainment, for

instance, licenses its Spider-Man

property to Sony and its X-Men to Fox.

Marvel receives a percentage of the

film's gross, estimated by analysts to

be as high as 5%. Licensing also

opens the door to legal skirmishes,

such as Warner Bros.' protracted

copyright battle over the rights to the

Superman franchise.

The bible also provides plenty of

dramatic storylines and characters. "If

you're doing big, epic effects films,

you're going to run out of flying

superheroes. These are superheroes

of the ancient time," said Bob Berney,

who oversaw the marketing of "The

Passion of the Christ" when he was

president of Newmarket Films.

Still, biblical material presents plenty of challenges. Not only have the stories been

subjected to centuries of interpretation and scholarly research, but each individual

filmmaker, studio executive and moviegoer approaches the content with his or her

own perspective, and religion is an area where there is typically little consensus.

The potential downside is significant, said Jonathan Bock, president of Grace Hill

Media, a marketing firm that has helped several Hollywood studios target religious

audiences. "You do it wrong, and not only are you not going to get your wider

audience, but you're not going to get your core," he said.

Getty Images for AFI

Steven Spielberg is in talks to direct 'Gods andKings.'

Enlarge Image

WireImage/Getty Images

Paramount is spending $125 million to launch itsepic ark with Russell Crowe.

Enlarge Image

Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

Will Smith is slated to make his directorial debutin 'The Redemption of Cain.'

Enlarge Image

Everett Collection

A prequel to 'The Passion of the Christ' will starOdeya Rush.

Enlarge Image



Controversy embroiled "The Last Temptation of Christ," Martin Scorsese's 1988

film about the life of Jesus Christ and the temptations he faced. The film—

including a scene where Jesus imagines himself having sex with Mary Magdalene

—drew outrage from numerous Christian fundamentalist groups, which staged

boycotts and protests of the movie and Universal Studios. The film, which was

banned in several countries for years, was a flop, taking in just $8.4 million.

Several industry executives say that

today's audiences may be open to the

inspirational lessons of the Bible at a

time when much of the world is facing

economic turmoil and the Middle East

is racked by political instability.

Director Paul Verhoeven, whose

credits include "Black Book,"

"Showgirls," and "Basic Instinct," said

he was motivated to develop "Jesus of

Nazareth," a feature film based on a

book he co-wrote, because he believes

modern culture can benefit from Jesus'

story.

"I strongly feel that what I call the new

ethics of Jesus—love your enemy—

should be applied in our human

thinking and are not very often done

so," said Mr. Verhoeven.

Mr. Verhoeven's movie is being

financed by the production company of Chris Hanley, whose films have included

"American Psycho" and "The Virgin Suicides."

Some filmmakers have recently discovered yet another motivation: counteracting

the waves of violence rippling across the Middle East as a result of an anti-Islamic

film clip posted to Google's YouTube.

"That movie did such destruction, and when I see something like this happen, I do

hope that maybe we can help in some small way," said Mary Aloe, a producer of

"Mary, Mother of Christ."

Paramount has designed the production schedule of "Noah" to accommodate extra

time for script consultation with biblical scholars and, in the postproduction phase,

for test screenings for religious groups. As a result the film isn't scheduled for

release until March 2014.

Written by Mr. Aronofsky (who directed "Black Swan"), his longtime collaborator Ari

Handel and John Logan (who co-wrote "Gladiator"), the movie is filming in the U.S.

and Iceland now.

Because the book of Genesis, which is

the basis for the film, provides only a

rough sketch of the "Noah" story line,

Mr. Aronofsky and his team will have to

flesh out the narrative with their own

interpretations. And that's where things

can get tricky.

"There's creative interpretation that

goes into things that aren't directly

Paramount Pictures

'Noah,' starring Russell Crowe, is now filming inIceland and the U.S.

Universal/Everett Collection

Controversy around 'The Last Temptation of

Enlarge Image



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addressed in the underlying material,

and so you always run the risk that

people take exception to those stories,"

Mr. Moore said.

Once that process is complete, the challenge shifts to getting both mainstream

moviegoers and religious audiences into theater seats, a process that relies both

on specialized marketing to those eager for a faith-based film as well as marketing

that appeals to those searching for a "popcorn" movie.

The marketing team on "The Passion of the Christ" successfully threaded that

needle, despite the significant challenges presented by its subtitles and R rating.

"Our job was to make it more 'Braveheart,' " said Mr. Berney. "Really to make it a

big, epic action movie in the genre."

His team emphasized the music and action in the film's promotional campaign, and

by selling it as a "Mel Gibson movie."

For "Noah," Paramount plans to employ a dual-pronged marketing strategy.

"To the frequent moviegoer, we'll be selling it as an action-adventure movie with

spectacular visual effects and with great filmmakers and an amazing cast," Mr.

Moore said. The studio will also be "directly appealing to groups who we hope will

come to it as a way to talk about and think about a story of faith, either with their

family or even potentially reaching out to youth groups."

Ultimately, said Mr. Bock at Grace Hill, "you have two cultures that are

rediscovering each other. Hollywood has the best storytellers. And religion has the

best stories."

Write to Erica Orden at [email protected]

A version of this article appeared September 28, 2012, on page D1 in the U.S. edition of The Wall

Street Journal, with the headline: Hollywood's New Bible Stories.

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