US hit, The Bible, to be recut as international film

(The Bible)

Producer Mark Burnett has revealed that his epic hit, The Bible, will be recut into a three-hour movie for theatrical release.

The Bible, which aired as a 10-part miniseries on The History Channel earlier this year, was a massive success with its targeted audience and earned more viewers than most hit cable shows.

After concluding an NBC Summer Press Day where Burnett was promoting a panel for The Voice, the executive producer revealed there is no studio involvement yet in a Bible film, but said he has had "many offers" to revise a version of the miniseries for the international box office.

"We're cutting a movie version right now, a three-hour version of Jesus and [we have] many, many offers from theaters globally," Burnett said.

Burnett, who conceived the series with his wife Roma Downey, said he is seriously considering releasing the film outside the studio system.

This would not be the first time a religious film has moved beyond traditional distribution.

Indeed, in 2004 thecontroversial  independent film The Passion of the Christ, directed by Mel Gibson, turn into a blockbuster.

"We're in the position where it's just a matter of choosing," Burnett said. "We could put it into arenas. There are a lot of possible choices we could go with. We kind of operate outside the business [and] we do our own thing. It's a good position to be in."

The Bible experienced immediate success when it netted an audience size of 13.1 million viewers for its two-hour premiere on March 3.

Despite some controversy, The Bible went on to hold steady ratings beyond the rest of History's programming and most of cable.

For its Series Finale on March 31 (Easter Sunday), the series gained a staggering 11.7 million viewers while directly competing against the Season Finale of cable's most popular show, The Walking Dead, and the Season Premiere of HBO's biggest current series, Game of Thrones.

The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones earned 12.3 million viewers and 6.7 million viewers, respectively.

The Bible has since gone on to be the fastest selling miniseries on DVD on record.

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