One of next year's most anticipated motion pictures has a new title. Formerly known as Christ the Lord, director Cyrus Nowrasteh's feature film has been retitled The Young Messiah.

The movie remains scheduled for nationwide release by Focus Features on Friday, March 11^th, 2016, as previously announced.

The Young Messiah shares the inspiring and unique story of seven-year-old Jesus Christ and his family as they come to a fuller understanding of His divine nature and purpose, The Young Messiah is directed by Mr. Nowrasteh, writer/director of the award-winning The Stoning of Soraya M., from a screenplay adaptation that he and his wife, Betsy Giffen Nowrasteh, wrote. Ocean Blue Entertainment, in conjunction with CJ Entertainment and East West Bank, is financing the project.

The Young Messiah is produced by 1492 Pictures' Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan, Mark Radcliffe, Ocean Blue's Tracy Price, and CJ's Mark Shaw. Enzo Sisti, Hyde Park's Ashok Amritraj, CJ's Miky Lee, and Ocean Blue's Bill Andrew and Mark Burton are the executive producers.

"This new title better conveys how our film seeks to present a realistic portrait of Jesus as a child both grounded in faith and consistent with the adult Jesus revealed in the Bible. As believers, we hope that children will be drawn to the child Jesus and that this can be an uplifting film for the entire family," said Mr. Nowrasteh. "It's important to us that The Young Messiah inspires people to visit, or revisit, Jesus' story from a fresh new angle, one that centers on an unexplored moment in His life between the nativity and His crucifixion and resurrection. We also hope that, in some small way, our film leads viewers to the transformation and grace that Jesus extends to us all."

Focus Features is part of NBCUniversal, one of the world's leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news, and information to a global audience. NBCUniversal owns and operates a valuable portfolio of news and entertainment television networks, a premier motion picture company, significant television production operations, a leading television stations group, world-renowned theme parks, and a suite of leading Internet-based businesses. NBCUniversal is a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation.