Two Films Of Biblical Proportions Coming To Theaters

Vulture is reporting that there are two epic films featuring Moses are currently in development by two sets of heavyweight producers.

Dan Lin and Matti Leshem are developing Moses for Warner Bros., which will be a large scale retelling of the story of the Israelites’ departure from Egypt.   Lin was reponsible for developing the 2006 Best Picture, The Departed. British screenwriter Stuart Hazeldine and American TV writer turned screenwriter Michael Green are writing the project.

Hazeldine recently was co-writer of The Tripods, an adaptation of the sci-fi classic with Alex Proyas.  In addition, he is also working on an adaptation of John Milton’s Paradise Lost for Legendary Pictures. Green is best known for co-executive producing NBC’s Heroes and for creating the short-lived Kings.  As of late he has become the go-to writer for "Spandex Stories" at Warner Bros.  He has written the script for 2011's The Green Lantern and the studio's planned adaptation of DC Comics' The Flash, due in 2013.

A similar project is also in development at 20th Century Fox.  Peter Chernin is working on what's being referred to internally only as the Untitled Moses Project which is being written by Bill Collage and Adam Cooper. This is definitely a major change in direction for Collage and Cooper who wrote the Olsen-twins vehicle New York Minute, and the Justin Long comedy Accepted.  They are also currently adapting Moby Dick for Timur Bekmambetov at Universal, as well as a film about Marco Polo for director Francis Lawrence at Warner Bros.

Which one will make it to production first is anyone's guess.  Chernin's project is currently being sent out to directors and Lin's expecting a final draft soon.  Either way there will definitely be high expectations for the film to live up to Cecil B. DeMille’s epic 1957 The Ten Commandments, which was nominated for Best Picture and won for best special effects.  I agree with Vulture, the best Moses related film has been from Mel Brooks: 1981's History of the World: Part One.  

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