Will The Passion Movie Have Political As Well As Spiritual Consequences?

Vanity | 2-20-2004 | John Fields

[jonboy]

The audience will be MUCH more diverse than those in horse drawn carriages. LOL!

[Red Boots]

One impact I think might be big is that this movie was distributed independently, and will be probably be a blockbuster. In our small town, over 2 weeks of showings have already been sold out to area churches. That's the money in the hands of theater owners 3 weeks before the movie even arrives. You can't say no to that kind of cash flow. Mel Gibson has demonstrated the way for other independent film makers and distributers to get around the existing Hollywood stranglehold, and proved that the money, and lots of it, is out there. This trickle will become a flood, bypassing the Hollywood elite. Their days are numbered.

[Oystir]

ZOT!

[jonboy]

In all honesty, I couldn't tell you aside from all of the people that Gibson approached and was told thanks but no thanks. I've read countless stories about this movie and don't recall much more in some cases than impressions. But do you think he'll be winning any Oscars unless he gets a few modern day miracles going for him? The left HATES this movie and there's no lefter bunch of people than in Hollywood.

[Borderline44]

yeah, i'm a troll... sheesh...

[Clintons a commie]

Then what, BI? Unless they edited the part out of the script which said so I KNOW that the offending section of the movie had Jesus kissing EITHER John or Judas on the mouth

There is a scene where John the Baptist kisses Jesus on the lips, but it certainly isn't to imply that either Jesus or John are gay or bi. The sequence is right before Jesus goes into the wilderness for forty days, and John emotionally hugs and kisses him before warning him that the devil will try to deceive Him in the desert.

We need to be accurate when we protest things that are an attack on our faith. Saying that Jesus was portrayed as gay in LAST TEMPTATION is not accurate. There are plenty of things wrong in that film, but that isn't one of them.

[HitmanLV]

Sorry, but I think you are way way off base.

The film will do very very well - 2800 theaters and plenty of tickets sold. It will draw a slightly older crowd to the movies, but it won't have much traction with 13-25 year olds who are the biggest moviegoers. That being said, it will still probably set a record for an opening day and weekend for February.

Hollywood won't undergo severe financial pressure because of the film, though they probably should. The diet will still be for largely meritless junky films for the forseeable future. The Passion cost only 25 million to make and will probably make 8-10x that in theaters alone, and it will do very well on home video. The lesson for Hollywood is to make cheaper films, not to make more moral films. The suits will miss both of those lessons, though, for sure.

Families watching the movie ritualistically? No - it's too violent for that, sorry. It will have no or only marginal impact on the rental market, which is huge. Few filmmakers will imitate this film - done entirely in an ancient language with subtitles, it won't be imitated much.

Indeed, you will see several weeks of denial over the film's success. 'Experts' saying that the film is doing well only because religious fanatics are going in droves (of course, movies where degenerates go in droves are seen as sheik and dandy!).

When all the money is counted, I expect this film to make around $ 200-250 million or so internationally, good but it won't be good enough to be the #1 film of the year (the early best bet for that will be Spider-Man 2, opening July 4th weekend - remember that Spider-Man 1 was the movie to reach 100 million the fastest [3 days], to reach $ 200 million the fastest [9 days], and to reach $ 300 million the fastest [22 days] - all domestic figures, not international figures. I expect SM2 to beat all those records, somehow.)

The Passion won't do nearly as well, though will present a much better return on investment to the producers. It will probably get some folks thinking more seriously about their religion, which is a good thing.

[The Cuban]

PLease don't use the terms Christian and Catholic in contradistinction. The terms are Protestant and Catholic. Thanks. We are ALL Christians.

[jonboy]

I knew it was Judas or John (although I had the wrong John). If you think that a Hollywood production of the sort that Last Temptation of Christ was had an innocent kiss on the mouth that wasn't intimating something else I've got a sea-side resort in Arizona to sell you. LOL.

[jonboy]

I'm sorry if I offended you it wasn't intended, I'm just a Christian. I don't live my faith to protest anyone. I mentioned Catholics being especially interested in this film because the Director and main actor are as well, plus it being based, at least in part, on a book by a Catholic nun. Those aspects will certainly have a greater tendency to attract Catholics than non-Catholics. As to us all being Christians, I believe that all Christians are believers but not all believers are Christians. To me the Christian is the one who follows God's lead as best they can once they have been washed in the blood of our Lord. Those who haven't come into contact with that blood can call themselves anything they want, but it won't mean that they are saved.

[The Cuban]

What exactly do you mean coming in contact with god's blood of our Lord?

[maro]

It may be a perennial in the movie theaters every Easter. So it will be a tidy annuity for Gibson, making money every year the way that the Disney animated movies do.

[Brimack34]

The news shows seem to be attacking it. I have seen a lot of churches with signs up that they will be discussing this movie.

[jonboy]

I'm sure you'll allow me to think the same. One can't prove opinions until the facts are in. We'll see in fairly short order who is right and who isn't. By the way, they have 4,000 prints of the movie, IF that corresponds to theatre count, which I'm not sure of at all, it would mean that The Passion would have the greatest rollout of all time even over X-Men United and LOTR Return of the King. I think that there will be a lot of people like me who will see the movie more than once in order to stick it to Hollywood, painful as it will be to see again.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

Like "Braveheart"???

[commish]

Roll out is currently at 2800 theaters with 4500 copies of the movie being sent out. Many theaters are showing it on multiple screens.

original roll out was 2700 copies to 2000 theaters, but was upped last week due to demand, and could be upward of 3000 theaters by Wednesday.

[jonboy]

I mean a person who has been baptized into Christ. His blood cleanses us from our transgressions when we are baptized. It is then when we come into relationship with Him. When we stay faithful to Him and stay open to His leading, He never stops interceding on our behalf with God. That's the short answer.

[jonboy]

What's your main point about Braveheart?

[<1/1,000,000th%]

The movie "Braveheart" resulted in Scotland demanding their own Parliament from the UK. And now they have it.

[jonboy]

Interesting.