'Noah's Movie Trailer Released: Could Russell Crowe's 'Noah' be the Next Box-Office Prophet? (Video)

By Luke Leung
Noah Paramount Picture
 (Paramount Pictures)

The official trailer of Hollywood's "Noah" film has been released Thursday, offering footages of possibly another box-office prophet film in the lines of Cecile B. Demille's "The Ten Commandments" and the recent Mark Burnett's "The Bible" miniseries aired on the History Channel.

"Noah" is Hollywood's latest attempt to bring the biblical epic to the big screens. Director Darren Aronofsky deploys computer-generated imagery (CGI) special effects, featuring cascading water, comets, and hordes of animals flying, slithering and swarming onto Noah's ark.

The film is scheduled for release on March 28, 2014. Test audiences who are mostly devout Christians have screened the early portions of "Noah" and have given the film low ratings, according to ABC News. The reason was that it did not adhere to the biblical account from Genesis 7-9.

With such reviews in clear sight, Paramount still have several months left to make shift the film's focus to the message and meaning behind the story of Noah in order to appeal to the Christian population in the United States and around the world.

Aronofsky is co-producing the PG-13 film together with Mary Parent and Scott Franklin. The lead role of "Noah" will be played by academy-award winner Russell Crowe, who most recently played the ruthless policeman Javier in Les Miserables.

The cast include Ray Winstone, Jennifer Connelly as Naameh, Emma Watson as Ila, Anthony Hopkins as Methuselah, Logan Lerman as Ham, Douglas Booth as Shem, Madison Davenport, Dakota Goyo as young Noah, Kevin Durand, and Martin Csokas.

The plot has been described as "the Biblical Noah suffers vision of an apocalyptic deluge and takes measures to protect his family from the coming flood," according IMDb.com.

"The film version of the Bible story re-telling of Noah's Ark. It follows a man who is given the mission to build a giant vessel that can house two of every animal from the earth to save them from the giant flood that will wipe all life for a new beginning," according to Aceshowbiz.com.

Christian Bale and Michael Fassbender were offered the role of Noah to the $130 million budget film, but they declined due to scheduling conflicts, the IMDb.com reported.

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