The Bible Goes to Hollywood: Seven Movies and Shows Based on Biblical Stories, Best TV Shows to Binge Watch

Streaming giants are always looking for ways to draw ever-more eyeballs. Netflix is leaning hard into anime and schlocky reality shows. Disney+ has its Star Wars and Marvel franchises to lean on. And Amazon’s Prime Video is picking up some big books.

The second season of Prime’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (predicated on J.R.R. Tolkien’s work, of course), is set for an Aug. 29 release. Prime has also released two seasons of The Wheel of Time (based on Robert Jordan’s sprawling fantasy series), with a third season rumored to be on deck for 2025.

And now, Prime Video has turned to the most important book of all: The Bible.

Production is underway in Greece for the upcoming series, House of David. Relative newcomer Michael Iskander has been cast as Israel’s giant-slaying, psalm-writing king, while Ali Suliman has been cast as King Saul. It’s the first joint production from Amazon’s MGM Studios and The Wonder Project—a faith-based indie studio founded by Christian director and producer Jon Erwin. Erwin will be serving as the show’s director and executive producer, too.

And while we obviously can’t say that House of David is going to be any good yet, the partnership between MGM and Wonder Project has me pretty jazzed.

Erwin’s been a driving force behind some of the most successful faith-based movies out there, from I Can Only Imagine to American Underdog to Jesus Revolution. Back in MGM’s heyday in the 1950s and ‘60s, the studio was known for its biblically tinged epics, including Quo Vadis (1951) and Ben-Hur (1959).

This feels like a partnership that’ll take the source material seriously, and it’ll keep its eye on the show’s aesthetic quality as well. Both of which are important to a show such as House of David. The biblical narrative is worth a sweeping epic, and it’s filled with all the stuff that causes Hollywood to swoon: action, blood, heroism and scandal. For my money, I think that King Saul just might be one of the most compelling characters in the whole of the Bible. (Not heroic, mind you, but his tragic arc is reminiscent of Shakespeare.)

But because it is so dramatic, David’s story—in the wrong hands—could turn pretty salacious, and problematic, in a hurry. Lose sight of the source material and you lose the story. Because let’s face it, Hollywood’s most notable dance with King David, a 1985 film starring Richard Gere, certainly feels like a cautionary tale. (It logs in with an 8% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.)

Indeed, Hollywood has had a spotty history with biblically based movies. Some have been good. A few might’ve been great. But others? Not so much. And at times, they’ve been flat-out weird.

So here’s a look at seven such movies and television shows—stories based on the Bible (and, for this list, we’ll stick mainly to the Old Testament). This is by no means an exhaustive list, and plenty of your favorites are not included. But all of these are notable—for one reason or another.

The Bible (miniseries, 2013)

In 2013, the History channel took a curious leap of faith: It aired a sprawling miniseries based on the bestselling book of all time. Created by the husband-and-wife duo of Mark Burnett and Roma Downey (the former, a reality TV impresario; the latter, an actress best known for Touched by an Angel), The Bible was an unexpected ratings smash and, despite some critical raspberries, was nominated for an Emmy for Best Miniseries. And just as the miniseries touched on the book of Revelation at the end, Hollywood received its own revelation: Bible-based entertainment can be profitable.

Noah (PG-13, 2014)

In the wake The Bible’s (see above) success and the shocking box-office achievements of such faith-based films as Fireproof and Courageous, mainstream Hollywood decided to test the biblical waters (so to speak). And its first effort pulled out all the stops. Featuring an all-star cast (including Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Emma Watson and Anthony Hopkins) and a huge special effects budget, Noah was … something. But it wasn’t biblical. Director Darren Aronofsky wasn’t much interested in staying true to the source material. If you forget that Noah is based on, y’know, Noah, the story does have some interesting themes. But for the most part, Christian audiences disembarked Aronofsky’s box-office boat.

We move from the Flood to the age of biblical Patriarchs and, in His Only Son, we meet Abraham—the literal granddaddy of them all. While Abraham’s life was long and varied, this 2023 film concentrates on a turning point in not just his life but in all of ours. Asked to sacrifice his son, Abraham dutifully packs up and prepares to do so. But—spoiler alert—he’s stopped just in the nick of time. His Only Son was not only far more reverent to Scripture than Noah, it stressed the ties between that near sacrifice and God’s own coming sacrifice of His Son. And while His Only Son wasn’t a box-office smash—grossing just $13.8 million worldwide—it holds a Rotten Tomatoes “freshness” rating of 83%.

Before the company turned its attention to Shrek and Kung Fu Panda, DreamWorks cut its teeth with kid-friendly biblical narratives. It released The Prince of Egypt in 1998 to modest success. Its second Bible-based animated feature was Joseph: King of Dreams, released directly to video. Featuring seven original songs, gorgeous animation and a notable cast of voice actors (including Ben Affleck and Mark Hamill) Joseph: King of Dreams still lost its way a bit in its storytelling. Most critics didn’t find it quite the equal of The Prince of Egypt, and it was the last Bible-based story that DreamWorks would tackle. But many people still adore it. And if it never made it into your old DVD collection, it is available to rent and stream.

The Ten Commandments (G, 1956)

No Old Testament story has received more attention than that of Moses. From the just-mentioned The Prince of Egypt to 2014’s dispiriting Exodus: Gods and Kings to Cecil B. DeMille’s first take on the story (his 1923 silent film, also titled The Ten Commandments), though most people still think of DeMille’s 1956 epic, featuring none other than Charlton Heston in the title role. Admittedly, this film shows its age. But when it was first released, this was a big deal. It won an Oscar for special effects (thanks to the famous parting of the Red Sea scene) and was nominated for six others. It became the highest-grossing film of the year.. (If you adjusted its earnings for inflation, according to the Guiness World Records, it earned the equivalent of $2 billion.) But, while the broad-brush story is familiar to the one you’ll read in the Bible, The Ten Commandments came under some critical fire for the liberties it took with the source material. It’s a good reminder that such liberties are hardly new to our own age.

You don’t find a lot of biblical epics centered around women. One Night with the King—a retelling of the story of Esther—is an exception. Filmed in India and featuring plenty of familiar faces (including the legendary Peter O’Toole as the prophet Samuel), One Night with the King stuck pretty much to the biblical script and, arguably, paid the price for it among secular critics. It earned a 19% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. But Christian audiences largely approved of its efforts to stick to the original script.

Russell Crowe as Noah. Charlton Heston as Moses. And … an asparagus as Jonah? That’s what happened in Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie. Released during the height of VeggieTales mania, Jonah was the first feature film to be released by Phil Vischer’s Big Idea Productions—making it, at that point, arguably the company’s biggest idea. Looking back, it might’ve been a little too big. The film made just $25.6 million, and Big Idea declared bankruptcy the next year. But the movie itself is a delight. Our reviewer at the time, Bob Waliszewski, said it “easily competes with A-list Disney fare.”

We could go on, of course. We’re missing everything from the 1928 “part-talkie” Noah’s Ark to 1951’s sultry David and Bathsheba and plenty others besides—and that’s before we even get to the New Testament. There’s a lot of other films I’d love to talk about, but those will have to wait for another blog. And by that time, House of David might just join its ranks.