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Home (/+CSCO+0h756767633A2F2F6A6A6A2E6F6F702E70627A++/culture)
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The shock of the old(/+CSCO+1h756767633A2F2F6A6A6A2E6F6F702E70627A++/culture/story/20130419-the-shock-of-the-old)Ancient art that offendsmodern eyes
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It was an intriguing image and it caught Twitter users'imagination – a massive wooden replica of Noah's Arkunder construction in suburban New York. "I dreamt aboutthis since I was 13," tweeted Black Swan director DarrenAronofsky, whose epic film of Noah’s life is set for releasenext March. "And now it's a reality."
This enormous set is a rare extravagance in the age ofCGI pictures. And in more ways than one, it looks back toan older style of movie-making. It heralds a flood ofHollywood films on biblical themes.
There are two planned Moses pictures in the works, withAng Lee and Ridley Scott rumoured as directors. Thenthere’s a Cain and Abel story in development. SonyPictures Entertainment confirmed last year they’d givenapproval for production to go ahead through Will Smith’sproduction company. Other religious films are also beingincubated.
Hollywood’s interest in biblical epics is to some extentcyclical – in the 1950s and early 60s they were a staple.Legendary filmmaker Cecil B DeMille made a big impactwith The Ten Commandments in which Charlton Hestonplayed Moses. Other biblical hits from the time includedSolomon and Sheba, David and Bathsheba and Ben-Hur.These films dominated the box office.
But not all the religious films from the era resonated withan audience. One of the best-known – The Greatest StoryEver Told – didn’t do well commercially. And several didn’tmeet with the approval of reviewers. The New York Timescritic wrote that the biblical epic King of Kings, narrated byOrson Wells, had “the nature of an illustrated lecture.”
Recently interest in religious-themed films has beenheightened as the Hollywood studios have, once again,come to realise there’s a potentially huge audience forbiblical fare. Not necessarily earth-shattering news whenyou take into account that a Gallup poll conducted lastyear found more than 75 per cent of Americans identifywith a Christian religion.
But what’s got Hollywood’s attention in the past fewweeks is the just-completed American TV series The Bibleon the History Channel. This miniseries – whichdramatised the Bible in five two-hour programmes –became a surprise blockbuster. It reached an audience ofmore than 13 million with its first episode – an unusuallylarge viewing figure for a miniseries on cable TV.
Reality TV impresario Mark Burnett, who co-produced theseries with his wife actress Roma Downey, clearly thinksthere’s a demand for religious entertainment. “We believein the Bible, we believe in Jesus and that’s the numberone subject right now in America. And that’s great!” hesays.
With epic stories about Noah, Moses and Cain and Abel all due to hit ourscreens, is the Bible movie set to take over from the superhero film?Tom Brook examines the potential risks and rewards of the religiousblockbuster.
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Hollywood resurrects the Bible(/+CSCO+1h756767633A2F2F6A6A6A2E6F6F702E70627A++/culture/story/20130423-hollywood-turns-to-the-bible)Will epic films defeatsuperheroes?
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(https://webvpn.ucr.edu/+CSCO+0h756767633A2F2F6A6A6A2E6F6F702E70622E6878++/news/entertainment-arts-17812602)Russell Crowelands lead inNoah(https://webvpn.ucr.edu/+CSCO+0h756767633A2F2F6A6A6A2E6F6F702E70622E6878++/news/entertainment-arts-17812602)Russell Crowe hasbeen cast as Noahin DarrenAronfsky's film ofthe same name, themovie's producershave announced.
The success of the History Channel’s The Bible hasanimated studio executives. Paul Degarabedian, boxoffice analyst for Hollywood.com(https://webvpn.ucr.edu/+CSCO+0h756767633A2F2F756279796C6A6262712E70627A++/),says: “I think that’s maybe the foremost thing on theirminds right now: that if done properly Bible-based moviescould potentially be moneymaking and profitable.”
Gods and superheroes
But catering to the growing interest in biblical adventurespresents the Hollywood studios with a challenge: how tocreate a movie that will engage both secular audiences aswell as those who strongly identify with their religiousbackground? Screenplays have to be thoughtfullycomposed to reach audiences everywhere. It’s not aneasy feat if you’re trying to reach a worldwide audiencethat includes people who practice very different religions.
Making the right kind of religious films is difficult for thestudios as Toby Miller, author of Global Hollywood 2,confirms. “It’s a big issue in overseas sales,” he says.“How Christian can you get? How Old Testament can youget? ”
Hollywood has engendered heated controversies in thepast when it has taken on religious stories. Biblicalcharacters are seen as sacrosanct. California-based BrianGodawa, a filmmaker who writes and directs spiritualstories, has taken exception to the forthcoming film Noah.
Based on his reading of the screenplay he says: “They’returning it into a political propaganda piece forenvironmentalism. What they’ve done is made themeaning of the Noah story into something that’s not in theBible.”
He adds: “We’ll just have to wait and see what happenswith Noah because if it’s as anti-biblical as I think religiouspeople won’t want to see it.”
Whether or not planned religious movies create criticism,Hollywood is not going to hold back given the promise ofbig box office rewards.
Another strong factor encouraging the studios to explorebiblical stories is that Hollywood’s big staple – thesuperhero films of recent years – may have run theircourse. “It’s true there isn’t much that is left to be minedbut it is clear there is a massive appetite for that kind ofstory,” says Professor Miller.
Religious epics, if carefully calibrated, could perhapssatisfy the appetites of the superhero audience.
The studios have already peddled god-like superheroesand met with box office success. Take Thor – the KennethBranagh directed action-adventure released two yearsago which took in more than $180m at the internationalbox office.
The character of Thor in the movie certainly had areligious dimension. As Professor Miller says: “Thor is agod, or a semi-god, able to go beyond the human normand provide inspiration to the conventional person,”
Soul searching
Paul Degarabedian believes given the right treatment allthe excitement of the Bible – the events, battles andintrigue – could be fashioned into an appealingblockbuster. “That could be something that could totally
cross over that would be cinematic, compelling,entertaining that could be huge if it’s done with the properbalance of secular style storytelling,” he says.
But Brian Godawa is pessimistic, arguing that secularHollywood doesn’t really understand religion. “Theproblem is that many people in Hollywood are notspiritually, religiously inclined – they don’t understand theBible. They don’t understand Christianity or Judaism.They import their own views into it.”
What some studio executives would like to see is areplication of the success of Mel Gibson’s 2004 religiousepic The Passion of The Christ which depicted the lasttwelve hours in the life of Jesus. The film made more than$600m around the world.
Despite considerable controversy – and charges of anti-Semitism – it was a religious film that did reach beyondthe US Christian community. It also made headway incountries with large Muslim populations such as Egypt.But it was banned in other parts of the Muslim world fordifferent reasons – partly because the crucifixion, sovividly depicted in the picture, contradicts the Koran.
Some commentators see the success of The Passion ofThe Christ as specifically connected to both the socio-political climate in the US at the time it was launched andMel Gibson’s stature. He personally financed the filmwhich also benefitted from a very effective marketingcampaign that relied heavily on church groups.
Right now Hollywood is mired in soul-searching lookingfor new ways to reach audiences of all kinds both religiousand secular. Religious epics remain risky ventures butthey could be part of the answer – if done properly thepayoff could be huge.
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