Good News Holdings Tagged Articles at Cinematical

While I am in no way looking to get into any sort of religious debate here, I would like to note that I can't help but find this story slightly amusing. Variety reports faith-based media company Good News Holdings is partnering up with Tyndale House Publishers (known for publishing the bestselling Holy Bible) on a brand-new horror franchise based on a series of teen-oriented novels. Good News just recently smacked the stamp down on their first film deal, a Biblical epic based on a book written by gothic horror novelist Anne Rice (Interview with a Vampire).

The partnership sure does sound interesting, however these teen-oriented novels haven't even been written yet. See, the goal here is to publish the books around the same time each film comes out, or at least that's the plan with the first one. Personally, wouldn't it be better to throw the books out there sooner and gain buzz for the film? Seriously, I assume they've heard of a little wizard kid named Harry Potter -- why not go that route?

The books, which are being written by Bodie Ingelvie, revolve around the mysterious town of Dudleytown, Connecticut. Following a series of disappearances and murders, the town was deserted for years until a private group bought 1,000 acres and put up "no trespassing" signs.Supposedly, this same area was used as inspiration for The Blair Witch Project. Series will begin with the book, Dudleytown: Voice, and will be written from the perspective of a 17-year-old. Right now, the book and film plan to debut sometime in 2007.

I bet that, when Anne Rice left vampires and witches for the Lord, you thought we wouldn't see any more of her novels make the jump to celluloid, right? Well, you were wrong (And, yes, I was too. We all make mistakes.): The rights to Rice's Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt -- the first in a planned quartet about the life of Christ -- have been acquired by Good News Holdings, a production company formed last fall with the stated goal of creating "faith-based content in multimedia formats." [As an aside, I wonder where Rice's passionate return to the church leaves her non-Gothic novels. Because I would officially flip out if someone made a movie of Cry to Heaven or The Feast of All Saints. Though I guess all the gay lovin' in Cry to Heaven might not fit with Rice's current sensibility. Dammit.]

Rice herself has been hired to write the screenplay and, given her tremendous regard for The Passion of the Christ, expect it to be bloody (when possible -- the book only covers Jesus' life from birth to his family's move from Egypt to Nazareth) and realistic. But in English, one hopes. The plan is to have the film in theaters in time for Christmas, 2007.