Steven Spielberg is in talks with Warner Bros to direct a new movie tentatively titled “Gods and Kings.”
The film will center on the story of the Old Testament figure Moses, as reported by the Deadline website.
The studio has reportedly been courting Spielberg since the fall of 2011 to direct the new epic.
Rather than being a remake of Cecile B. DeMille’s classic, “The Ten Commandments,” a source describes the project as a “Braveheart-ish version of the Moses story,” which will focus on the biblical leader as a warrior.
The plot will feature Moses “coming down the river, being adopted, leaving his home, forming an army, and getting the Ten Commandments,” the source told Deadline.
“There have been glossy versions of the Moses story but this would be a real warrior story,” the source said.
“The Ten Commandments” took in $65 million in box-office receipts in 1956, which in today’s numbers would translate to about $1 billion, placing it in the blockbuster category.
At the time, Paramount had advertised that the movie had incorporated a new display technology, VistaVision, to enhance the audience experience.
Warner Bros will likely be tempted to use 3D in the new Moses film, if only to have movie-goers experience more intensely the parting of the Red Sea.
Spielberg, who was just snubbed by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in the Best Director Oscar nominations category, has been searching for a project that would ultimately have a profound cinematic impact.
Warner Bros intends to begin production early next year.
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