Newsbites: The biblical spin-offs edition!<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"1. Universal Pictures, having scored a major international hit with the Abba-themed musical Mamma Mia! last year, is now developing a remake of Jesus\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2009\/07\/newsbites-the-biblical-spin-offs-edition.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Newsbites: The biblical spin-offs edition!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"1. Universal Pictures, having scored a major international hit with the Abba-themed musical Mamma Mia! last year, is now developing a remake of Jesus\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2009\/07\/newsbites-the-biblical-spin-offs-edition.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"FilmChat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-07-30T21:42:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Peter T. Chattaway\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Peter T. 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{"id":193,"date":"2009-07-30T21:42:00","date_gmt":"2009-07-30T21:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2009\/07\/newsbites-the-biblical-spin-offs-edition\/"},"modified":"2009-07-30T21:42:00","modified_gmt":"2009-07-30T21:42:00","slug":"newsbites-the-biblical-spin-offs-edition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2009\/07\/newsbites-the-biblical-spin-offs-edition.html","title":{"rendered":"Newsbites: The biblical spin-offs edition!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

1.<\/a> Universal Pictures, having scored a major international hit with the Abba-themed musical Mamma Mia!<\/a><\/i> last year, is now developing a remake of Jesus Christ Superstar<\/a><\/i> (1973). One director the studio has spoken to \u2014 though they\u2019re not in active negotiations with anyone just yet \u2014 is Marc Webb<\/a>, whose credits include numerous music videos as well as the current indie hit (500) Days of Summer<\/i>. \u2014 Hollywood Reporter<\/a><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

2.<\/a> The Lion of Judah<\/a><\/i> is the first computer-animated feature to be made in South Africa, and it happens to concern a bunch of barnyard animals who witness the events surrounding the first Easter. The eclectic cast includes Ernest Borgnine, Sandi Patty and Bruce Marchiano<\/a>, who played Jesus in the Visual Bible<\/a> adaptations of Matthew<\/i> (1993) and Acts<\/i> (1994) and will apparently do so again for this film. The Lion of Judah<\/i> doesn\u2019t seem to have either a distributor or a firm release date lined up just yet, but in the meantime, you can watch a trailer for the film at its official website<\/a>. \u2014 Variety<\/a><\/i>, Cartoon Brew<\/a><\/p>\n

3.<\/a> Year One<\/a><\/i> is coming to DVD and Blu-Ray in October \u2014 and the bonus features will include an \u201calternate ending\u201d currently titled \u201cSodom Destruction\u201d. Will there be pillars of salt? \u2014 IGN<\/a><\/p>\n

4.<\/a> Magdalena<\/a><\/i>, the comics-based action flick about a modern-day superhero descended from Jesus and Mary Magdalene, now has a writer and a director. The writer is Holly Brix<\/a>, whose credits include The Butterly Effect 3: Revelations<\/i>; and the director is Ry\u00fbhei Kitamura<\/a>, whose last film was Clive Barker\u2019s Midnight Meat Train<\/i> (2008). Hmmm. Jenna Dewan<\/a> and Luke Goss<\/a> are still attached to star. \u2014 Variety<\/a><\/i>, Hollywood Reporter<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"