Movie genres often rise and fall based on what's popular at the moment, so it's surprising that we're seeing a number of Biblical picture going before the cameras. Perhaps they're the new superhero movies. Darren Aronofsky is currently shooting 'Noah,' Steven Spielberg has been working on a picture about Moses, and now it looks like Sir Ben Kingsley will star as Herod in 'Mary Mother of Christ.'

This may not be on the same scale as those other two as it is to be directed by Alister Grierson, best known for directing the James Cameron-produced 'Sanctum.' The Wrap tells us that Kingsley is circling the project, which is being called a prequel to 'The Passion of the Christ.' That may be bullstuff, but - hey - why wouldn't you try to connect your film to a movie that made $600 Million worldwide.

The bible picture was a consistent in Hollywood from silent films up until around the mid-1960's, when the "Cast of Thousands" big budget productions fell out of favor due to rising costs and a couple of terrible movies. Since then we've seen a number of regional films deal in scripture, either as actual biblical movies, or films that seek to impart the wisdom of the Bible (like minor hits 'Fireproof' and 'Courageous'), but few Hollywood movies. But it looks like that's about to change.

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