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European Resistance in the Second World War by Philip Cooke & Ben H. Shepherd Everyone knows of the role of the French Resistance in the fight against Hitler – what is far less well known is the role of other nationalities who were equally active in attacking the Nazis be it underground, partisans or guerrillas or simply non-cooperation. The Nazi’s actually faced fierce opposition in many occupied countries, none more so than in Greece where the German attempts to capture Crete proved to be a decision they bitterly regretted. The Cretan warriors were determined not to give in and caused […]...

For the second consecutive year, Warner Bros. Pictures International has exceeded the coveted $3 billion mark at the international box office. This benchmark comes on the heels of the release of The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies, a production of New Line Cinema and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, which surpassed $400 million at the international box office this weekend and is still going strong.

Nine Warner Bros. Pictures films have exceeded $100 million internationally, topped by Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar (with Paramount Pictures), which has taken in an astounding $467 million outside of the U.S. to date, and Godzilla (with Legendary Pictures), which has earned $327 million overseas.

Four titles – Doug Liman’s Edge Of Tomorrow (with Village Roadshow Pictures), Phil Lord & Christopher Miller’s The Lego Movie (also with Village Roadshow Pictures), and Noam Murro and Zack Snyder’s 300: Rise Of An Empire (with Legendary), along with the 2014 spillover grosses from The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug...

Paramount’s Noah has come under fire from certain religious leaders, but the movie has its religious fans, too. Several of them have stepped up to defend Darren Aronofsky‘s Bible-based epic in a new featurette crafted by Christian media speaker Phil Cooke, praising it as a “powerful,” “profound,” “pro-faith and pro-God” work. Even if you’re not particularly […]

The post ‘Noah’ Featurette: Religious Leaders Defend Controversial Epic appeared first on /Film.

There's a lot at stake with the release this Friday of "Noah," and not just for the filmmakers or the studio that sunk a reported $160 million into the film.

In a year when Hollywood is releasing several Bible-inspired movies, "Noah" has become the test case for a number of issues -- whether Hollywood can earn the trust of fundamentalist Christians (and whether it's worth risking money and controversy even to try), whether it's possible to make big-budget spectacles that please both religious viewers and secular action-film fans, and whether directors can make Bible-themed movies that adhere to doctrine without compromising artistically or making dull propaganda.

It would be easy to see this saga as a story of just two players. On the one side is Hollywood, represented here by "Noah" studio Paramount, which would like to attract Christian viewers, and which has practically bent over backward to do so, testing...

With Noah arriving in theaters this weekend, Paramount Pictures has released a new seven-minute featurette touting the Biblical accuracy of this big-budget adventure, in an effort to alleviate some of the controversy surrounding the film. The Hollywood Reporter reveals that Paramount asked faith-based filmmaker Phil Cooke to create this seven-minute featurette after the studio came across his blog post which asked Christians to go see director Darren Aronofsky's film. Screenwriter Ari Handel and Phil Cooke reveal the challenges that telling this tale posed, since it is such a small story in the Bible, while the production's Biblical adviser John Snowden reveals that the story is actually much darker than the one parents tell their children. Take a look at this extended featurette with new footage and interviews with several religious leaders before this adventure hits theaters on March 28.

Noah comes to theaters March 28th, 2014 and stars Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly,...

Last month we heard about the attempts by Paramount to deliver a cut of Noah to please religious groups and audiences outside of the cut that director Darren Aronofsky put together. But since their attempts proved to fare no better than the cut from the filmmaker himself, they let Aronofsky continue with what he was doing without interference. But the film is still getting some criticism for not being accurate to the Biblical source material, so in one final effort to reassure the naysayers, there's an extended featurette utilizing scenes from the film, behind the scenes footage and talking heads with screenwriter Ari Handel, the film's Biblical advisor John Snowden, and producer Phil Cooke, who made the video. Watch below! Here's the featurette on the Biblical accuracy of Noah from Cooke Pictures (via The Film Stage): In Darren Aronofsky's take on the Biblical tale, Noah (Russell Crowe) suffers visions of an apocalyptic deluge,...

In an obvious effort to maximize appeal to religious audiences, Paramount enlisted Christian writer and producer Phil Cooke to produce a behind-the-scenes preview of “Noah” with religious leaders and scholars voicing support for Darren Aronofsky's biblical disaster movie, as well as a bevy of footage. “Movies aren't meant to preach. Movies aren't sermons, and so if they can bring up the topic to start conversation, that's a good movie. And this one made me ask questions,” Karen Covell, founder of the Hollywood Prayer Network, says in the video (above). “Any good movie has to deviate from the book, and I.

In the wake of controversy over Noah's treatment of the biblical source material, several religious leaders have shared their thoughts on the upcoming Paramount film in a new featurette that also includes insights from screenwriter Ari Handel and behind-the-scenes footage of the making of the movie. Writer, speaker and producer Phil Cooke created the video with his eponymous production company, noting that all of the people commenting on the film in the video have seen the movie. Paramount asked Cooke to create the video after he wrote a blog post recommending that Christians see the film, Cooke says

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