Despite intense pre-release skepticism and fears that its graphic intensity would incite division, the film went on to gross more than $610 million worldwide.
More than 20 years after shattering box-office expectations and redefining faith-based cinema, Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ is returning to theaters nationwide.
The special theatrical re-release — running from Sept. 10 through Sept. 17 — comes at a pivotal moment, serving as the runway for Gibson’s long-anticipated, two-part epic follow-up: The Resurrection of the Christ.
Speaking exclusively with EWTN News host Raymond Arroyo on iHeart’s Arroyo Grande Show, Gibson reflected on the grueling, unsanitized portrayal of Jesus’ final 12 hours that made the 2004 original a cultural phenomenon.
“I just wanted to make it as real as possible for people to enter into that journey, which is pretty grueling,” Gibson shared. “Previous depictions of it had been pretty much sanitized, and they made it look easy, and it wasn’t. So I wanted to emphasize that this was not easy. In fact, he [Jim Caviezel] didn’t want to do it.”
MEL GIBSON on a new @ArroyoGrandeSho on the timing of his Resurrection of the Christ – “I thought I was late, 23 years later…
