{"id":7400,"date":"2013-04-22T19:26:07","date_gmt":"2013-04-23T02:26:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/?p=7400"},"modified":"2013-04-24T07:34:24","modified_gmt":"2013-04-24T14:34:24","slug":"the-bible-to-get-shorter-running-time-bigger-screens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2013\/04\/the-bible-to-get-shorter-running-time-bigger-screens.html","title":{"rendered":"The Bible<\/i> to get shorter running time, bigger screens"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>It\u2019s already a record-setting TV series and a record-setting DVD release. Now The Bible<\/a><\/i> is headed for theatres\u2026 or some similar public venue. Deadline<\/a> reports that producer Mark Burnett made the announcement tonight while promoting one of his \u201creality TV\u201d shows.<\/p>\n

The series, which condensed the entire Bible down to about seven hours (or ten, once you add commercials), has reportedly been re-cut into a three-hour movie. Burnett has not yet decided whether to distribute the movie himself or to accept one of the \u201cmany offers\u201d he has received from potential distributors, but he\u2019s currently looking at releasing it in the fall \u2014 possibly in theatres, but also possibly in arenas.<\/p>\n

It remains to be seen whether the three-hour version of The Bible<\/i> will keep the same basic structure as the mini-series, dividing its time equally between the Old and New Testaments. It will also be interesting to see whether any deleted scenes get incorporated into this shorter version of the mini-series.<\/p>\n

This would not be the first time that a Bible mini-series was condensed for theatrical re-release. The six-part mini-series Moses the Lawgiver<\/a><\/i> (1974), starring Burt Lancaster, was cut down to 141 minutes for its theatrical release in 1976. And Campus Crusade\u2019s Jesus<\/a><\/i> (1979) film was condensed \u2014 and partly re-shot<\/a> \u2014 from a roughly four-hour adaptation of Luke\u2019s gospel produced by the Genesis Project.<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a> to read my episode-by-episode blog posts on The Bible<\/i>, and click here<\/a> to read the article I wrote on the series for the Books & Culture<\/i> website.<\/p>\n

Update:<\/b> The Hollywood Reporter<\/a><\/i> has its own take on the story \u2014 and reports that Burnett is considering a sort of sequel that would tell even more stories set \u201cin the same world\u201d. \u201cI do have scripts in my bag that I just received today for what\u2019s next,\u201d he is quoted as saying. \u201cWe feel there is a void and we\u2019re filling that void.\u201d<\/p>\n

With any luck, at least one of those scripts will tell the stories of Elijah and Elisha<\/a>.<\/p>\n

April 24 update:<\/b> Don\u2019t know how I missed this before, but in the Hollywood Reporter<\/i> story, Burnett says the movie will be \u201ca three-hour version of Jesus\u201d (his words, not the reporter\u2019s) and \u201cwill have a big focus on the Resurrection\u201d (the reporter\u2019s words, not his).<\/p>\n

That suggests they are dropping the Old Testament entirely, which means they\u2019d only have to condense five episodes \u2014 or about four hours\u2019 worth of material, including all the stuff from Josephus, Acts and Revelation \u2014 down to three hours.<\/p>\n

And, given that Jesus pops up quite a bit in the mini-series after<\/i> his resurrection \u2014 even at points in the story where the Bible would indicate that he didn\u2019t<\/a> \u2014 it also suggests that they might keep some of the material from Acts and Revelation, which most Jesus movies never do. That could be interesting.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s already a record-setting TV series and a record-setting DVD release. Now an even shorter version of The Bible<\/i> is headed for theatres\u2026 or possibly even arenas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1116,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,687,345,360,51,792],"class_list":["post-7400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","tag-bible-2013","tag-genesis-project","tag-jesus","tag-jesus-1979","tag-mark-burnett","tag-moses-the-lawgiver"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Bible to get shorter running time, bigger screens<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It\u2019s already a record-setting TV series and a record-setting DVD release. 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