The Berean Call: June 18, 2018

Hollywood has a long history of making Bible-based movies, including epics by Cecil B. DeMille and John Huston; Italian directors Pasolini and Rossellini; American Martin Scorsese, and Australian Mel Gibson. Broadway musicals have also been made into “biblical” movies and videos such as Jesus Christ, Superstar and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Smaller productions abound including the Visual Bible’s Matthew, Acts, and The Gospel of John, the TV presentation Judas, Campus Crusade’s The Jesus Project, and Johnny Cash’s The Gospel Road. Then there are upcoming movie epics with proven box-office stars. Noah, for example, features Russell Crowe and Anthony Hopkins, and there are other offerings planned by two major studios. Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox are planning productions on the life of Moses, with Steven Spielberg being sought to direct one of them. Randall Wallace (director of Braveheart and Secretariat) will direct the upcoming film version of the New York Times bestseller Heaven Is for Real, which, although not a biblical story, claims to give the first-hand experiences of a young boy who visited heaven.