Russell Crowe’s Controversial $160 Million Biblical Epic Heads to New Streamer

It is common for films of a religious nature, especially those directed at a general audience, to be met with a divisive response. Mel Gibson‘s The Passion of the Christ remains the highest-grossing faith-based film of all time, which means that it was just as popular with the average moviegoer as it was with the devout. But it was also massively controversial, as was director Darren Aronofsky‘s Noah, which debuted over a decade ago and found itself at the center of a heated debate around its depiction of Biblical events. Noah remains Aronofsky’s highest-grossing film, and one of the last times that star Russell Crowe headlined a project of this size. The movie is now available to stream on Paramount Plus.

Noah was produced on a budget that has been reported to be as high as $160 million; the movie made around $360 million at the worldwide box office. It opened to mostly positive reviews, but it proved to be divisive among crowds. It holds a 41% audience score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, where the critics’ consensus reads, “With sweeping visuals grounded by strong performances in service of a timeless tale told on a human scale, Darren Aronofsky’s Noah brings the Bible epic into the 21st century.” The film’s critical rating on RT is sitting at a far superior 75%.

Around the time of the film’s release, Crowe and Aronofsky campaigned for an endorsement from Pope Francis; they felt that a blessing from the Pope would help convince religious crowds that the movie wasn’t as blasphemous as they’d imagined it to be. However, the best that Crowe and Aronofsky could get was a VIP invite to one of the Pope’s sermons. “I think, considering the controversy surrounding this movie, it would have been so easy for the Vatican to rescind that invitation and just let it be that way but the kindness to actually let that invitation stand though is consistent with who he has been,” Crowe told Good Morning America.

Russell Crowe Will Soon Be Seen in ‘Nuremberg’

Noah also features Jennifer Connelly, Emma Watson, Ray Winstone, Anthony Hopkins, and Logan Lerman. Crowe was recently cast alongside Henry Cavill in the Highlander reboot, and will next be seen as Hermann Göring in the film Nuremberg. Aronofsky’s latest film was Caught Stealing, starring Austin Butler.

You can watch Noah on Paramount Plus, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.