We’ve seen it with “Harry Potter,” “Twilight” and more recently with the “Hunger Games” and “Divergent” book series. Hollywood producers and writers take popular books and turn them into movies in order to make big bucks.
Now, they are turning to the book that has been on the best-seller list every year: the Bible. 2014 has been deemed “Hollywood’s Year of the Bible Movie” according to The Gazette.
In theatres most recently has been “Noah” (released March 28), and “Son of God” was released the month before. December will bring a movie titled “Exodus: Gods and Kings” and a year from now, “Mary, Mother of Christ” will be in theatres.
In addition, Will Smith has been working on a piece called “The Redemption of Cain” for three years. Brad Pitt has been rumored to star in a movie as Pontius Pilate, the Roman general who sent Jesus to his death. There is also work being done on a movie called “Resurrection,” which will be a story of the Romans’ investigation after Jesus went missing from his tomb, according to The Telegraph.
Hollywood does have a history with Biblical movies, but the last time movies with story lines parallel to the Bible occurred in the 1950s and 1960s. One such example is “The Ten Commandments,” a film released in 1956 that tells the story of Moses.
After a break from scriptural movies all together, Mel Gibson released “The Passion of Christ” in 2004.“The Passion” was the most successful independent film ever with box office earnings of more than $600 million worldwide, according to Hollywood Reporter.
Experts are saying that the success of this movie in particular turned Hollywood’s writers and producers to the possibility of major success in biblical-themed movies.
The year of the Bible movie started with “Son of God, ” released Feb. 28. Its producer, Mark Burnett, had created a series called “The Bible” that was shown on The History Channel in 2013. 11 million viewers tuned in for the series, according to NPR.
Burnett decided to make a movie based off of the series’ content. “Son of God” did well in theatres, earning 26.5 million viewers during its opening weekend, according to The Gazette.
No matter the content, the writers and producers of a movie are targeting a specific audience. With the rise in Biblical movies, writers and producers are recognizing that Christians are an important target group. According to The Telegraph, 91 million evangelical Christians live in America.
However, moviemakers aren’t targeting Christians all by themselves. They have enrolled the help of pastors who are invited to watch the movie in advance to critique it. They can even show the trailer to their congregations during their sermons if they wish, according to The Telegraph.
An example of this is portrayed in the controversy surrounding the newest biblical movie, “Noah.” Many conservative Christian audiences are claiming that the movie’s scriptural aspects are simply ignored while the liberal message of climate change and conservation are stressed. A year ago, when a group of pastors saw “Noah” before it was edited, they had the same concern. After the pastors’ critique, the producers edited it and warned audiences that the movie was “inspired by” the story of Noah; it was not a re-telling of the story of Noah that appears in the Bible, according to The Gazette.
But why would Hollywood want to pull from the Bible, of all places?
It’s easy. Most biblical stories have what moviemakers want in their movies: drama, lots of action and heroes. Using direct stories from the Bible is simple as well; there are no licensing or copyright fees to pay, according to The Telegraph.
If directors and producers are smart, they will cast familiar and good actors and actresses. People want to see actors like Russell Crowe and Christian Bale (both men are in biblical movies this year), whether the plot of the movie is religious or not.
The year of the Bible movie is off to a good start, but the real question is whether or not all of the biblical movies will keep audiences captivated.