Hollywood has a paradoxical history with the Bible. For an industry with a a secular soul, Hollywood has never shied away from making movies that either heavily reference Christian themes or depict outright stories from the Old and New Testament. The Ten Commandments and Ben-Hur are two of the most iconic American films ever made, and Mel Gibson’s highly controversial Passion of the Christ remains the highest grossing R-rated movie in history 12 years after its release. Television has also ventured into spiritual entertainment with mixed results. But considering the overwhelming majority of Americans that still self-identify as Christian, the potential profits of producing Bible-themed entertainment still vastly outweigh the risks.
NBC is taking that gamble, albeit with a particularly modern twist. Entertainment Weekly is reporting that the network is developing a modern reimagining of the Noah’s Ark tale, to be produced by revered filmmaker Robert Zemeckis. NBC says The Ark will be a “grounded, modern retelling” of the classic Biblical story, following an engineer who, at the behest of a vision, constructs a ship capable of sustaining life in space. Not religious enough for you? They’re not done yet: “When the build happens to coincide with the coming end of the world, the engineer realizes there may be a larger story at play.”
There you have it: Noah’s Ark in Space. Hopefully God is a little more discriminatory this time around.
(Via Entertainment Weekly)
