Let the battle of the Moses epics begin!  Two high profile films about the Biblical character have been in development for the past year or so—one at Warner Bros. with Steven Spielberg flirting with the director’s chair, and one at Fox that has Ridley Scott attached to direct.  Yesterday, Warner Bros.’ film Gods and Kings was dealt a blow when Spielberg finally left the project, and now it appears that Fox is ramping things up on Exodus as Scott is looking to make the pic his next film after he completes post-production on The Counselor.  The Gladiator filmmaker has taken a big step forward towards production, as he and Fox are apparently courting Christian Bale to tackle the Moses role.  Hit the jump for more.

We have tracked the entire life cycle of Steven Spielberg’s relationship with Gods and Kings, a Moses biopic written by Michael Green (Green Lantern) and Stuart Hazeldine (Exam).  Warner Bros. asked Spielberg in September 2011.  The director entered negotiations in November 2011.  He was reportedly near a deal in January 2012.  And now, according to Deadline, Spielberg has decided to drop the project.  This is sad news for Warner Bros., but now they are free to move on—after all, time is an issue, because ideally the studio would like to beat Ridley Scott‘s competing Moses biopic (now titled Exodus) in the race to the multiplex.  WB has reached out to Ang Lee to direct, now that he’s caught up to Spielberg’s two Best Director Oscars with his Life of Pi win.  Lee is said to be interested, but hasn’t taken a formal meeting yet.

This is sure to be a high profile project once it gets the engine running, so we’ll keep you posted.  In the meantime, hit the jump for a rundown of the major events in Moses’ life.

Though he may be 74 years old, director Ridley Scott is showing no signs of slowing down anytime soon.  Opening next week is his return to the sci-fi genre, Prometheus, and he’s gearing up to shoot his next film later this month, the Cormac McCarthy drama The Counselor.  Now Scott is adding yet another project to his ever-growing development slate, as he recently revealed that he’s been working on an adaptation of the Biblical tale of Moses, appropriately titled Moses.  Hit the jump for more.

Warner Bros. and producers Dan Lin and Matti Leshem are developing a Moses epic by the title of Gods and Kings.  They reached out to Steven Spielberg to direct last fall, but the odds seemed low since the man is already juggling so many projects.  Yet Spielberg entered into negotiations with the studio before year’s end.  Now word comes that Spielberg is very close to signing on the dotted line.  The director just wrapped on Lincoln, and is already at work on Robopocalypse, so he’s tied up for at least a year.  But Warner Bros. hopes they can get Gods and Kings in production with Spielberg in the director’s chair by March or April of 2013.

With the new report comes new details on what Spielberg has in mind for the massive project, which he reportedly sees as a “Braveheart-ish version of the Moses story.”  Hit the jump for more.

Warner Bros. and producers Dan Lin and Matti Leshem are in development on Gods and Kings, an epic cinematic take on the life of Biblical hero Moses.  Last time we checked in on the project, WB was courting Darren Aronofsky to direct, and the plot was said to focus on the Exodus (i.e. older Moses).  However, Deadline says the script by Michael Green and Stuart Hazeldine covers “the life of Moses from birth to death.”  This is important to me, but an update on the directorial status of Gods and Kings will be more noteworthy to everyone else.  Things presumably did not work out with Aronofsky, so the studio is setting their sights even higher: the one, the only… Steven Spielberg.  There’s no guarantee they’ll get Spielberg.  And if they do, it will become one of a dozen projects the director would eventually like to get to.  But I’m excited by the possibility.  We haven’t seen Spielberg direct a big, effects-driven tentpole since 2005′s War of the Worlds.  [Edit: Not sure how I forgot Indiana Jones 4.  Still excited, but this section is invalid.]  The epic-but-animated The Adventures of Tintin doesn’t count, and his next films War Horse and Lincoln look to be more character dramas.  Robopocalypse could break the streak, but the life of Moses is the prototype for the special-effects summer blockbuster.  Thousands of frogs will rise from the Nile!  The Red Sea will be parted!  The desert ground splits open to swallow up rebellious Reubenites!

Speaking of which, a rundown of the many notable events in Moses’ life is after the jump.

Since dropping out of Fox’s The Wolverine, director Darren Aronofsky has been linked to a number of projects. Everyone wants to know what he’ll choose as his follow up to the smashing success that was Black Swan. Earlier this month, it was reported that he was eyeing the sci-fi flick Human Nature with George Clooney attached to star. Now, Badass Digest reports that the director is being courted for two other high-profile projects: Disney wants him to helm Maleficent and Warner Bros. is courting the director for Moses.

Maleficent just recently lost its director, as Tim Burton bowed out a few days ago, but David Yates has been mentioned as a possible replacement. The film is set to start Angelina Jolie as the notorious Sleeping Beauty villain. Moses is one of two dueling projects centered on the biblical figure. Warner Bros’ version focuses on the Exodus, while the Fox version is said to be more in the vein of 300 (because violence and sex is exactly what the Old Testament is lacking). While neither of these sounds particularly up Aronofsky’s alley, neither did a sequel to Wolverine. Personally, I’d much rather see him take on that other biblical project: his long-talked-about Noah.