I tend to stay away from films that claim they're the next 'blah'. That shitty Jim Carrey movie was supposed to be the next DaVinci Code, the Starship Troopers movie was supposed to be the next St*r WarzzZZ, and Narnia was supposed to be the next Lord of the Rings.
The religious thing? Eh. Lord of the Rings was probably more anti-religious than anything else, what with wizards and elves and the like. I know Tolkien was a religion nut, but the movie was so fantasy-laden, it couldn't be anything but. Still, I won't probably see this until it's on TNT in 2 years.