'Nazareth': Fox Producing Series on Childhood Years of Jesus Christ

By Leah Marianne Klett
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Fox will release new series about the early years of Christ's life will be released later this year.  www.revbickers.com

In the wake of multiple faith-based cinematic successes, US Network Fox has announced its production of a new series covering the childhood of Christ.

According to Fox, the project, called "Nazareth," will focus on Jesus' called "lost years," a period his life that is rarely written about in the Biblical account.  The show will document the life of Christ from the age of 13, following a pilgrimage to Jerusalem he took with his parents, to age 30, when he began his ministry and was baptized by John the Baptist.

The series is written/executive produced by David Franzoni (Gladiator) and executive produced by Bob Cooper. Nazareth is the first project produced under a deal for event series that Fox has signed with Cooper and Tyler Mitchell's Landscape Entertainment, Deadline.com reports.

According to Fox News, "Nazareth" was inspired by The History Channel's "The Bible," a 10-part mini-series produced by Roma Downey and Mark Burnett that featured stories both from the Old and New Testaments.

As of last April, "The Bible" was the top-selling DVD miniseries ever in its first week of release, hitting 525,000 copies, and reaching 1 million by June.  

The series was eventually turned into a successful movie released in February about the life of Jesus, called "Son of God."

This project follows closely on the heels of Lifetime's "The One" which also examines Jesus' formative years.   The TV movie depicts Jesus throughout his young life he comes to learn he is the Son of God and is destined for greatness.

This year has been hailed as "the year of the Bible" due to the successful release of multiple faith based films.

The "Noah" movie, although not necessarily a faith-based film, still sparks a conversation concerning Biblical events. The film, which stars Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly and Emma Watson has raked in a total of over $320 million worldwide at the box office.

"God's Not Dead," a faith-based drama, has raked in 53 million dollars since its release earlier this year, while Megpastor T.D. Jakes'  movie "Heaven is For Real" has seen significant success, trumping Johnny Depp's "Transcendence" and earning an impressive 21.5 million on its opening weekend earlier this month, and almost $54 million to date.

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