2014 is looking be a year where many similar themes are conveyed in cinema. The doppelganger will be explored in "Enemy" starring Jake Gyllenhal, "The Face of Love" starring Anette Benning and Ed Harris, and "The Double" starring Jesse Eisenberg. And the biblical movie will also see various interpretations. In March, two movies based on the Bible will be released in the span of three weeks. The first, "Son of God," tells the story of Jesus; the second will be Darren Aronofsky's "Noah." In December, Ridley Scott's latest, "Exodus," will also be released.
Religiously themed films have always been popular in Hollywood but have always been controversial in some way. A month before its release, "Noah" is already creating problems with some faith-based groups. According to Variety, a recent survey by the Faith Driven Consumers found that 98 percent of the religious organizations' members were not satisfied by the latest take on biblical story of Noah. Faith Driven Consumers has been tracking the viability of major Hollywood films courting faith-based audiences this year and for this particular film, it asked "As a Faith Driven Consumer, are you satisfied with a Biblically themed movie - designed to appeal to you - which replaces the Bible's core message with one created by Hollywood?"
The survey immediately angered Paramount executives and they countered the findings by revealing internal studio research. In an article published by the Hollywood Reporter, Paramount revealed that "research from industry-leading firms about the upcoming epic paints a very different picture."
The studio also stated, "Nielsen's National Research Group (NRG), the industry's decades long standard for measuring pre-release tracking of feature films (and other entertainment offerings), is tracking 'Noah' and has gauged, with still six-weeks to go before the film's release and from self-defined 'very religious' moviegoers, that 83 percent of those aware of 'Noah' in the pre-release tracking have expressed interest in seeing film."
"Noah's" recent controversy with religious groups isn't the first time a religious movie has gotten a bad reputation. Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" similarly courted controversy, with negative press actually helping the 2004 release break box office records. The movie caused controversy because many Jews were angered by what they deemed to be anti-semitic themes in the film; many were angered by the depiction of the treatment of Jesus at the hands of Jews in the film. It also caused protests from anti-Catholic protesters who were angered that the film did not rely solely on the Bible for its plot. Director Mel Gibson stated that the film was not meant to upset Jews. "It's not meant to [offend]. I think it's meant to just tell the truth. I want to be as truthful as possible," he said.
While the controversy gave the movie bad press, "The Passion of the Christ" ended up making $370 million domestically and $611 million worldwide.
In 1988, Martin Scorsese also caused a controversy with "The Last Temptation of Jesus Christ." The film depicts the life of Jesus Christ, and its central thesis is that Jesus, while free from sin, was still subject to every form of temptation that humans face, including fear, doubt, depression, reluctance and lust.
The movie caused uproar among some religious communities. Protests began months before the release of the film and some major religious leaders in the United States blasted the film in fiery sermons, and condemned its subject matter as pornographic. On Oct. 22, 1988, a French Christian fundamentalist group launched molotov cocktails inside the Parisian Saint Michel movie theater to protest against the film, injuring 13 people, four of whom were severely burned.
The movie was banned from some libraries, and received country-wide bans in Mexico, Chile, the Philippines, Singapore, and South Africa. While the movie was not as financially successful as the "Passion of the Christ," Scorsese went on to get nominated for the Academy Award for best director.
Other movies that have created controversy over their interpretations of religious subject matter include "The Da-Vinci Code," "Monty Python: Life of Brian" and "Dogma."
While "Noah's" controversial tracking does not seem like a big issue at the moment, the disapproval of some in the Christian community may only cause the film to create more buzz and ultimately be successful financially.
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