BUT WILL HE BE ATTACKED BY LOT'S PIRATE SHIP?

With Gibson's 'The Passion of the Christ' making religion 'hot' in Hollywood Columbia is hoping to cash in with a dopey idea:

A new spec screenplay has created a lot of heat in Hollywood thanks to Mel Gibson's THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST. Bobby Florsheim and Josh Stolberg's THE PASSION OF THE ARK was sold to Columbia Pictures for $1.5 million dollars, with another million waiting for the two writers if the project gets greenlighted. It's a huge sale for the industry, especially for two previously unproduced screenwriters, but that's the kind of heat that high concept religious movie ideas have in the wake of Gibson's CHRIST film.

THE PASSION OF THE ARK is set in the modern day and follows a regular man who is told by God that a second great flood will be coming. God instructs the man to build an Ark like the one Noah made thousands of years ago.


All of the major studios were going after Florsheim and Stolberg's screenplay but it was Columbia that ponied up the most to own it.

And there you have it. Hollywood clearly has tuned into the American heartland...

[Thanks to Mitch for the link.]