The Book of Mormon Movie, Volume 1: The Journey
DVD cover
Directed by	Gary Rogers
Written by	Gary Rogers Craig Clyde
Produced by	Gary Rogers
Starring	Noah Danby Bryce Chamberlain[note 1] Jan Broberg Felt Cragun Foulger Mark Gollaher Kirby Heyborne Bruce Newbold Bern Kubiak
Cinematography	Neal Brown
Edited by	Ira Baker David Hales
Music by	Robert C. Bowden
Production company	Mormon Movies
Distributed by	Halestone Distribution
Release date	September 12, 2003 (2003-09-12)
Running time	119 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$1.5 million[2]
Box office	$1.7 million[2]

Part of a series on the
Book of Mormon
Origin Cumorah Golden plates Joseph Smith Emma Smith Oliver Cowdery Sidney Rigdon David Whitmer Martin Harris Lucy Harris Book of Mormon witnesses Three Witnesses Eight Witnesses Spalding–Rigdon theory
Peoples Jaredites Nephites Amalekites Amlicites Zoramites Lamanites Anti-Nephi-Lehies
Persons Aaron Abinadi Abish Ammon Angel Moroni Alma the Elder Alma the Younger Akish Amaleki (scribe) Amaleki (explorer) Amalickiah Aminadab Ammoron Ammah Amulek Brother of Jared Captain Moroni Cezoram Coriantumr (last Jaredite king) Coriantumr (Nephite dissenter) Coriantumr (son of Omer) Enos Ether Gazelem Gideon Helaman Ishmael Jacob Jared Jaredite kings Joseph King Benjamin King Noah King Mosiah I King Mosiah II Laban Lachoneus Laman and Lemuel Lamoni Lehi Limhi Mormon Moroni Moron Moronihah Mulek Nephi Nehor Omner Omni Paanchi Sam Sariah Samuel the Lamanite Shiz Teancum Three Nephites Zedekiah Zeezrom Zeram, Amnor, Manti, and Limher Zeniff Zenock
Books First Nephi Second Nephi Book of Jacob Book of Enos Book of Jarom Book of Omni Words of Mormon Book of Mosiah Book of Alma Book of Helaman Third Nephi Fourth Nephi Book of Mormon Book of Ether Book of Moroni
Geography List Ammonihah Ani-Anti Antiparah Bountiful Cumeni Cumorah Jershon Moron Nahom River Sidon Valley of Alma Valley of Nimrod Waters of Mormon Zarahemla
Analysis Anachronisms Archaeology Book of Mormon and the King James Bible Criticism Historical authenticity Genetics Killing of Laban Linguistics Limited geography model Mosiah priority
Objects Liahona Plates of Nephi Record of the Nephites Urim and Thummim
Adaptations List of Book of Mormon Videos How Rare a Possession The Book of Mormon Movie Passage to Zarahemla Translations
Other Book of Mormon Historic Publication Site Curelom and cumom Deseret Engraved metal plates Gadianton robbers Lost 116 pages Monetary system Native Americans and Mormonism Pacific Islanders and Mormonism Skin color and Mormonism Urim and Thummim Reformed Egyptian Record of Zeniff Great and abominable church Secret combination Solomon Chamberlin Tree of life vision Two thousand stripling warriors
Outline of the Book of Mormon

The Book of Mormon Movie, Volume 1: The Journey is a 2003 American adventure drama film directed by Gary Rogers and written by Rogers and Craig Clyde. A film adaptation of the first two books in the Book of Mormon, the film was given a limited theatrical release on September 12, 2003.

The film is based on the first two books of the Book of Mormon: First Nephi and Second Nephi. The source material contains much theological discussion, and parables, some of which have been cut from the adaptation due to their unsuitability as narrative material. Some of the visionary material is retained.

The film starts in Jerusalem around 600 BC, where the audience meets patriarch Lehi, his wife Sariah, and their four sons: Laman, Lemuel, Sam, and Nephi. Lehi and his wife are devout believers in God, as are their sons, Nephi and Sam. Laman and Lemuel are more wayward and do not tend to agree with the commands of God or their father and brother Nephi.

While in Jerusalem, Lehi prophesies that the city will be destroyed. This elicits a negative reaction from many people, to the point of their wanting to kill him. The family flees into the desert at this point and becomes nomadic.

While in the wilderness, Lehi sends Nephi and his brothers back to Jerusalem to try to get hold of the Brass Plates, as commanded by God. The Brass Plates are inscribed with ancient scriptures and records that they need to take with them on their journey and which will form part of the basis of the Book of Mormon.

However, these plates are within the compound of a powerful and violent man called Laban, who has many men under his command. They first try to persuade Laban to hand over the plates, but eventually a fight ensues and they are forced to flee. One of Laban's servants, Zoram, ends up defecting to Lehi's side and joins his family in the desert.

Ishmael and Lehi's families intermarry, but Ishmael dies in the Arabian wilderness. The group is ordered to build a boat to take them to the new Promised Land, which they do with limited resources. Laman and Lemuel once more start complaining about this idea, but they all end up boarding this ship and leaving the Old World for the New.

They arrive in the New World after this voyage, but the quarrel within the family continues. After Lehi dies in the promised land, Laman and Lemuel, and their families, rebel again, and turn to evil things. The Lamanites separate from the Nephites.^[3][4] Because of this, Nephi and his allies have to escape them, and once more go into the wilderness.

Rogers's inspiration was the Cecil B. DeMille 1956 version of The Ten Commandments. He envisioned The Book of Mormon as one long historical epic. His plan was to make nine films that cover the entire story of the book.

The film's length is two hours, and it was revealed on the DVD commentary that the first cut of the film was two hours and forty minutes.

Noah Danby was cast as Nephi because of his strong resemblance to the art of Arnold Friberg, who created a series of paintings inspired by The Book of Mormon. ^{[citation needed]} He had never read the Book of Mormon prior to his casting. Danby is a devout Lutheran, and while at first he didn't feel comfortable in making the film due to religious differences, he has said in an interview for The Hollywood Reporter that he took the role to gain experience as an actor.

The desert scenes were filmed in Utah in the spring, and it was very cold. The "great and spacious building" was a five-foot miniature. The boat does not appear in the theatrical version of the scene in which the family arrives in the promised land. It was digitally added to that scene for the DVD version.

Mike Ripplinger^[5] directed and filmed the behind-the-scenes portion on the DVD release.

The film was mentioned in Paul C. Gutjahrs 2012 book The Book of Mormon: A Biography.^[6]

The film was rated PG-13 for "a scene of violence", having contained an image of Nephi with blood splatter on his face after beheading Laban. This image was removed for home media releases, and the film received a PG rating on DVD.

Produced for $1.5 million, Book of Mormon opened in 29 theaters on September 12, 2003 and made $114,573 in its first weekend, ranking number 41 in the domestic box office.^[7] The film played for 35 weeks before closing on May 13, 2004, its widest release being 38 theaters, and it had grossed $1,680,020.^[2]

It is the fourth highest-grossing film in the history of LDS cinema.^[8]

The film was widely panned by Latter-day Saint and non-Latter-day Saint critics.^[9][10] Variety described it as "[w]ell meaning but often as tediously earnest as a Sunday sermon".^[11] In the Mormon Blogosphere, A Motley Vision gave it a grade of C−.^[12] In a 2010 literary study of the Book of Mormon, scholar Grant Hardy mentioned the film as "a not entirely successful attempt to bring the Book of Mormon to the big screen."^[13]:20

Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes scored 17% of 6 critics giving the film a positive review.^[14]

• The Book of Mormon Movie, Volume 1: The Journey at IMDb
• The Book of Mormon Movie, Volume 1: The Journey at Box Office Mojo
• The Book of Mormon Movie, Volume 1: The Journey at Rotten Tomatoes