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The other issue was the level of violence in the film, as for two hours audiences watch as Christ endures the beating from Hell, tortured beyond recognition. Not only was this expected to turn people away, but audiences would also be put off of purchasing their soft drinks and popcorn. Compared to what’s written in the Gospels, Gibson does attempt to fill in some holes, be it the appearances of Satan and delving deeper in the relationship between Pontius Pilate and his wife. Whilst rewriting history was a concern, it didn’t cause half as much a commotion as being anti-Semitic.

One person who viewed the film before its release was Southern Baptist Arch Bonnema in Dallas, Texas, who was instrumental in the film’s success. “It had a profound impact on my life,” said Bonnema. So he told his wife, “We’ve got to get as many people as we can to see this film because it’s changed my life.” Even though she hadn’t seen the film, she allowed him to visit a Cinemark theatre to ask about the possibility of hiring out a single screen. He ultimately brought out 20 screens, purchasing 6,000 tickets worth $42,000 so that people can see the film on its opening day. He distributed 3,000 tickets through his church and another 1,000 to the Dallas Theological Seminary. With the remaining 2,000, Bonnema emailed a few friends to see if they knew anyone that would be interested in watching the film. “In three days, I had 23,000 requests,” he said. People were also requested to “invite a friend.” The publicity that this created was genius. On the film’s opening day news trucks were outside the Cinemark theatre reporting the story, which spread across the country. Other churches across the US had followed suit and used the film as a recruiting aid. A foreign language film was suddenly turning into an event movie, and as advanced ticket sales exceeded $10 million the film predicted to earn as much as $40 million within its first week at the US box office.

In January 2004 Gibson revealed the risk of having directed the film, saying, “I don’t know if I’ll ever work again. I’ve said that this is a career killer, and it could well be.” The Passion of the Christ opened on Wednesday, February 25, 2004, Ash Wednesday. The film achieved an opening day gross of $26.5 million. Something was clearly up. It reached #1 with a miraculous opening weekend gross of $83.8 million. Add in the Wednesday and Thursday numbers and it had managed to earn an unbelievable $125 million in just five days. At this point, the record for the highest grossing foreign language film in the US was Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which managed to earn $128 million back in 2000. The Passion of the Christ was able to surpass this on its sixth day of release. It remained at the top spot for three weeks only to be knocked off by Zack Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead. Interestingly, it managed to climb back to #1 in its seventh week (!), which just so happened to be the Easter weekend. With a domestic gross of $370 million, not only is it still the highest grossing R-rated film at the US box office, but it is also the highest grossing foreign language film. Churches across the world also employed the same tactic of buying out screens for their congregation, and the film brought in an additional $241 million overseas, making for a total worldwide gross of $611 million. By the end of March 2004, 20th Century Fox stepped back in to announce that they would like a piece of the pie and would be distributing the film on DVD.

The powerful effect it was having on its audience also made headlines, and wasn’t just moving them to go to church or read a Bible. The Passion of the Christ carries a death toll, with two people having died from heart attacks when viewing the film. However, the most unusual story concerns Dan Leach, a 21-year-old Texan man who was so moved after seeing the film that he felt remorse and confessed to having murdered his 19-year-old pregnant girlfriend. The Lord works in mysterious ways.

I viewed the film on its opening day. Weirdly three people got up and left within the first five minutes (I can only assume that they don’t like subtitles). There were frequent gasps and shrieks. I had to go a little out of my way to see it, for my local multiplex where I was working at the time decided not to pick the film up (the general manager there recounted to me what happened when The Last Temptation of Christ opened, and he was worried that there would be a similar occurrence). The decision backfired when (boosted by preview screenings) the film reached #1.

Gibson said that the film was meant to “inspire, not offend,” and that his intention was “to create a lasting work of art and engender serious thought among audiences of diverse faith backgrounds.” As proof of the film’s lasting impact; when reading the words, “And they crucified him,” for anyone that has viewed the film, it is the images from Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ that now come to mind. It’s probably the most accurate portrayal of Christ’s final hours that we’ll ever see; that is until someone decides to remake it in 3D.

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