Fox and Lorber, Reunited, Handle DVD Rights to Lost Tomb of Jesus

NEW YORK, April 2: Simcha
Jacobovici and James Cameron, the director and executive producer,
respectively, of The Lost Tomb of Jesus, have retained Lorber Media and David Fox and Associates to handle
exclusive sales of the “director’s cut” of the documentary on the worldwide DVD
market.

The 105-minute film offers
proof of having found the family tomb of Jesus Christ, unearthed in Jerusalem.
The findings include evidence suggesting Jesus and Mary Magdalene were a couple
and that they had a son named Judah.

The premiere broadcast of Lost
Tomb of Jesus on Discovery in the
U.S. garnered 4.1 million viewers, the channel’s largest audience in 18 months
and stimulated considerable controversy around the world.

Although the film and its
producers were criticized by several archeologists and a number of Christian
groups, Jacobovici affirms, “There were people who thought Jesus was a myth and
now that we've found [the tomb] they realize he was a living and breathing
person and they've found that inspirational.”

David Fox, who has worked
for several years with Jacobovici, said that he expected worldwide interest to
surge over the next few months as many major broadcasters including TF1 in
France, ProSieben in Germany, and Channel 4 in the U.K. are scheduled to air
the program.

Richard Lorber noted that
he and David Fox were deeply honored to have been chosen to bring this
compelling documentary to the world DVD market, adding, “this subject of mythic
proportions galvanized us to work together again.” It marks their first project together since the early ’90s,
when Fox exited their company, Fox/Lorber Associates.

While the two have
remained friends, their business paths have not converged until now. Lorber
sold Fox/Lorber in the late ’90s to Winstar, where he took on a key business
development role. He later founded Lorber Media and Koch Lorber, a distributor
of quality international cinema to the U.S. market. Fox co-founded Unapix
Entertainment and then founded mytvshop.com and his current firm, David Fox and
Associates, which represents independent producers of documentaries and
lifestyle programming.

The first deal for The
Lost Tomb of Jesus, for North
American rights, is already in place with Koch Entertainment. On April 24 they
will release the DVD with new material addressing various aspects of the
controversy.