The Bible: #1 TV Miniseries

THE TELEVISION EVENT OF THE YEAR SHATTERS HOME ENTERTAINMENT RECORDS

THE BIBLE

#1 TV ON DVD IN THE LAST 5 YEARS

#1 TV MINISERIES OF ALL TIME ACROSS BLU-RAY™, DVD AND Digital HD™

        DVD AND BLU-RAY™ BREAKS SALES RECORDS WITH 525,000 UNITS SOLD IN FIRST WEEK

#1 NEW CABLE TV SERIES NOW TOPS 95 MILLION VIEWERS

 

LOS ANGELES, CA, April 8, 2013 – The epic miniseries, THE BIBLE, continues its unprecedented success with its home entertainment launch and quickly became the biggest selling TV on DVD in the last 5 years and the biggest miniseries of all time on Blu-ray™, Digital HD™ and DVD in its first week of release.  THE BIBLE series is flying off store shelves around the country with 525,000 units sold.

According to the Association for Christian Retail (CBA), THE BIBLE is the fastest pre-selling faith based title in its 60-year history.  THE BIBLE also ranked #1 across digital stores including iTunes, Amazon, VUDU, Xbox, PlayStation, CinemaNow, and GooglePlay.

From its early debut last July at The International Christian Retailers Show (ICRS), to the unparalleled praise from notable spiritual leaders as Joel Osteen, T.D. Jakes, Samuel Rodriguez, Cardinal Wuerl and Rick Warren, to receiving The Parents Television Council 2013 Seal of Approval, THE BIBLE has ignited discussion across the country about the greatest story ever told.

"We are humbled by the overwhelming response from audiences to THE BIBLE miniseries,” said co-executive producers, husband and wife team Roma Downey and Mark Burnett.  “First, the show was number one on HISTORY, now it is number one on Blu-ray™ and DVD and has been number one in every country in which it aired.  We feel incredibly blessed that we were able to bring this amazing love story to life on the screen.  It is our hope that folks everywhere will continue to be touched by the message of the Bible and cherish these stories at home with their families for years to come.  This is just the beginning."

"Mark and Roma have created a work of broad cultural significance that has resonated deeply with audiences, and THE BIBLE has quickly become a must own DVD thatfamilies can enjoy together at home time and time again,” said Mary Daily, president and chief marketing officer of worldwide marketing, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.

“THE BIBLE continues to reach a broad audience and in justits first week it became the #1 title at retail stores,” said Simon Swart, executive vice president and general manager of North America for Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment. “It’s rare that a project comes along that touches millions of people in such an impactful way. THE BIBLE series is clearly a phenomenon that will be enjoyed by families for many years.”

“I’m so encouraged that Mark and Roma have produced this series,” said Stephen Quinn, executive vice president and chief marketing officer for Walmart. “Walmart is proud to sponsor programming that is so appreciated by the families we serve.  This series is being viewed by millions of people across the country, most of whom are Walmart shoppers.  Family friendly programming is good for our customer, our business and our culture.”

From Executive Producers Mark Burnett (The Voice, Survivor) and Roma Downey (Touched by an Angel), THE BIBLE is an epic 10-part miniseries which retells the stories of the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. The four-disc Blu-ray™ and DVD set dives deeper into the making of the series and features a behind-the-scenes look at how the ground-breaking miniseries came together.

During its run, THE BIBLE propelled HISTORY to number one in all of television from 8-10PM on Sunday nights with 95 million cumulative viewers watching the miniseries.

After being named the official app of THE BIBLE series, YouVersion's Bible App had its biggest month ever, reaching 88 million total installs, breaking into the top 15 of all free apps in the iTunes App Store, and seeing 3.4 billion minutes of Bible engagement in the app.

A STORY OF GOD AND ALL OF US: A NOVEL BASED ON THE EPIC TV MINISERIES “THE BIBLE” by Roma Downey & Mark Burnett instantly became a national bestseller. The book debuted at #6 on the Publishers Weekly Hardcover Fiction list and spent multiple weeks on the New York Times Hardcover Fiction list.

THE BIBLE series also continues to exceed rating expectations around the world with premieres in Spain, Columbia and Portugal that brought in viewership that dominated and lifted the series to #1 and beating the top rated programming in each of those countries.

In Diogo Morgado's Portugal, a large protest via Facebook prompted SIC to reschedule the series to air in the afternoon overEaster weekend.  This resulted in great success for the channel and a whopping 37% market share.  And more international territories continue to acquire the series including Greece, Croatia, Holland, Brasil, France and the UK where it was announced today that THE BIBLE will premiere on Ch. 5 this fall.

THE BIBLE series is produced for HISTORY by Lightworkers Media and Hearst Entertainment & Syndication.  Executive Producers are Mark Burnett, Roma Downey and Richard Bedser. Executive Producers for HISTORY are Dirk Hoogstra and Julian P. Hobbs. THE BIBLE is distributed by One Three Media, Inc.

AboutTWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENTERTAINMENT

Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, LLC (TCFHE) is a recognizedglobal industry leader and a subsidiary of Twentieth Century Fox Film, a News Corporation company. Representing over 75 years of innovative and award-winning filmmaking from Twentieth Century Fox, TCFHE is the worldwide marketing, sales and distribution company for all Fox film and television programming, acquisitions and original productions as well as all third party distribution partners on DVD, Blu-ray™, Digital Copy, Digital HD™, and VOD (video-on-demand). Each year TCFHE introduces hundreds of new and newly enhanced products, which it services to retail outlets from mass merchants and warehouse clubs to specialty stores and e-commerce throughout the world.

 

About ROMA DOWNEY

A celebrated, Emmy® nominated actress Roma Downey is best known for her nine seasons as the tender-hearted angel on the hit CBS show Touched by an Angel.  Ms. Downey starred in over 200 episodes and her work as the compassionate angel inspired millions of people around the world and earned Ms. Downey multiple best actress nominations for Emmy® andGolden Globe® awards.  Born in Ireland and classically trained in London, Ms. Downey has performed on stage with the famed Abbey Theatre Company and has appeared both on and off Broadway. She played the leading role of Jackie Kennedy Onassis in the Emmy® award winning six hour miniseries for NBC called “A Woman Named Jackie." Ms. Downey not only starred in, but executive produced seven television movies for The CBSnetwork, among them "Borrowed Hearts" with Eric McCormack and "Second Honeymoon" with Tim Matheson. She is the executive producer of the children's DVD and book series "Little Angels" and its companion "Little Angels Storybook Bible". Ms. Downey and Mr. Burnett have co-authored a companion book to the series ‘A Story of God and all of Us.’ The book is available now from Faith Words. For many years Ms. Downey has been a spokesperson for "Operation Smile" a volunteer organization that brings free surgeries to children around the globe with facial deformities. She has travelled to third world and developing countries making fund raising films on their behalf.

About MARK BURNETT

Three time Emmy Award winner Mark Burnett has produced over 1,000 hours of television programming which regularly air in over 70 countries worldwide. His currentnetwork series include "The Voice" (NBC), "Survivor" (CBS), "The Celebrity Apprentice" (NBC), "Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader?” (FOX), “Shark Tank” (ABC) and “Expedition Impossible” (ABC).  Burnett is one of very few producers to have had a renewed series on each of the four major networks.  He also has a strong presence in award show franchises, producing the annual “People’s Choice Awards” and the “MTV Movie Awards" and for the first time in 2011 is producing the 63rd annual Academy of Television Arts and Sciences "Primetime Emmy Awards."  In April of 2011, Burnett and media conglomerate Hearst Corporation announced their new joint media, production and events-based venture which will focus on media content, producing events around that content, and spinning off television shows and other programming based on Hearst brands.  Mr. Burnett has been named one of the world's most influential people by TIME Magazine and also TV Guide’s most valuable player. He has won BRANDWEEK’S Marketer of the Year Award, The Brandon Tartikoff Legacy Award, the PGA Norman Lear Award and the prestigious ROSE D’OR FRAPA Format Award.  Burnett was inducted into the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame and was honored in 2010 with a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame.