The Passion of the Christ
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| Thu, 02-26-2004 - 12:58am |
I knew it would be opening big, but I was surprised to find out this morning that one of the local 20-plexes was showing it to sold out crowds on every screen from 6:30 this morning to around 11:00 when their usual lineup started and The Passion only continued on a few screens.
I've been reading incredibly moving reactions to it like this one in National Review--
"THE PASSION IN HARLEM
I just got out of a screening at the Magic Johnson Theatres up at 123rd and Frederick Douglass in Harlem. The theatre was packed, with an audience that was about 85 percent black, and included many seniors (of course: daytime). The response to the film was just about universal: Loud applause at the end, and vocal endorsements of the movie as we exited. One sweet elderly lady, I’d say about 80 years old, was shaking her head on the way out, saying: “If you read the Bible, that’s exactly what happened.†Another woman, in her 30s, was brushing away tears. “It’s not the movie,†she said,†it’s the reality of the thing.†During the screening, the man I set next to—a guy in his 20s, tall, strong, and vigorous-looking, nobody’s wimp—gasped at some of the cruelties inflicted on Jesus. (When Jesus’ cross is turned over on its face so He can be nailed to it more securely, this man blurted out, “Oh, s***, that’s too much.â€) Before the movie started, there was a little film in which Magic Johnson explained the rules for his theatres: “No talking. . . . No hats or colors . . . . If you have a problem on the street, don’t bring it inside.†I couldn’t help thinking: There is a problem on the street, every street, and this movie is about the solution."
I wanted to see it this weekend, but now the local news is reporting that virtually every showing in Dallas through the weekend is already sold out, so now I have to wait til next Saturday.

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'Passion' rising toward box-office history
BY CARRIE RICKEY
Inquirer Movie Critic
The Passion of the Christ, the movie personally financed by Mel Gibson because no studio thought it commercially viable, could become the highest-grossing film in history.
By the end of business Sunday, the subtitled story of Jesus' final hours had grossed $264.5 million in the United States and Canada. The film opened Feb. 25.
"If The Passion continues on this trajectory, it's possible for it to surpass Star Wars and even Titanic as the domestic box-office champion of all time," said Paul Dergarabedian of Exhibitor Relations Inc., which tracks film revenue.
Hollywood's historic rankings are tabulated in non-inflation-adjusted dollars.
More conservative estimates have The Passion topping out at $325 million to $375 million domestically, putting it in the elite company of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, which thus far has earned $371.1 million.
"But Easter is coming," and that will keep the audience motivated, says producer Tom Pollock, former head of Universal Studios.
Given the intense response to The Passion, Pollock predicts that it will play in selected theaters through the year and get a wide theatrical re-release at Christmas and Easter 2005, putting it "over $400 million."
Bob Berney, head of Newmarket Films, the movie's distributor, said plans are not being made that far ahead. But he acknowledged that exit surveys show "there is ticket-buyer interest in seeing the film again."
The Passion earned $32.1 million Friday through Sunday, its third consecutive weekend at the top of the box-office list, and it shows no signs of fatigue. Already the 23d highest-grossing film ever, it is within days of passing Matrix: Reloaded ($281 million domestic) to become the most successful R-rated film.
Berney noted that the audience for The Passion has changed. Opening week, the audience was mostly women 25 and older. Now, it's attracting an equal number of men and women, and a growing audience of "18-plus" viewers.
Despite its R rating, The Passion is attracting even younger people. The film, which vividly depicts Jesus' physical torture, is being promoted on horror-movie sites that draw legions of young male readers. ("The bloodiest, goriest, flesh-rippingest film your churchgoing grandma will ever want to see," according to amazing-colossal.com.)
Box-office prognosticators point out that few predictions about the filmhave proved accurate. Its success in the Bible Belt was expected, and Berney reports a strong showing in Houston, Dallas, and other Southern cities.
But no one expected "one of the highest-grossing theaters the AMC Empire in Manhattan," Berney said. "Urban areas, such as metro Detroit, are doing great.... There's a strong African American and Latino component" to the audience.
"People who have never seen an R-rated film are seeing this one," said Dergarabedian.
During its first week in theaters, Gibson's movie passed Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon as the most successful non-English-language film ever released in the United States and Canada.
The film has grossed an additional $8.2 million in Australia, New Zealand and Greece, and will open wide in the Caribbean, Latin America and Europe by Easter, April 11.
Negotiations are under way with a video and DVD distributor, Berney said. Sales in that format are expected to be extremely high.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/8199068.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Renee
Not to put the movie down or anything, but it occurs to me that many people who normally would not have gone to see a movie are doing so because they feel that they MUST go in order to be 'good Christians'?
Renee
I thought the movie was pretty good. I guess I am desensitized to violence because I did not feel that the movie was anymore gory or bloody than action movies like "Bad Boyz", or the "Lethal weapon movies", or any Arnold Scwartznegger movie I have seen.
It was visually beautiful and some of the symbolizm was mesmerizing but one thing did ruin it for me. I ended up sitting between my husband and his cousin's friend, who I had just met. Anyway she read the subtitles out loud as if the people around her could not read for themselves. I was so irritated but I tried very hard to ignore her and continue to watch the movie. But the last straw was when she eeeked, and ouched when they were nailing him to the cross and made a mini-commotion. It seemed as if she was trying to prove to everyone who could hear her that she loved Jesus. Yes, most Americans love Jesus, even statistics and polls confirm it but I believe that proving you love Jesus in real life is what's important, not sitting in the theatre ooohing, ouching, and eeking. I would not have been so irritated if she seemed to be genuine.
So please, if you have not gone to see the movie don't read the subtitles out loud, people may want to enjoy reading the subtitles themselves.
I would probably like to see the movie again when it comes out on DVD or on cable television on my own, in the queit space of my living room.
`Passion' prompts man to admit murder.
http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/Southwest/03/26/passion.confession.ap/index.html
A man saw "The Passion of the Christ," talked to a spiritual adviser, then told police he had killed his girlfriend, authorities said Thursday.
Dan R. Leach's viewing of Mel Gibson's cinematic depiction of the last hours of Jesus, along with the discussion with a family friend, led him to walk into the Fort Bend County sheriff's department earlier this month and confess to killing Ashley Nicole Wilson, Detective Mike Kubricht said.
A coroner had ruled her death by hanging a suicide.
Wilson's body was discovered January 19 in her apartment near Richmond, southwest of Houston. All physical evidence pointed to suicide, Kubricht said, and the 19-year-old had gone off anti-depressant medications because she was pregnant.
The pregnancy apparently was the motive, Kubricht said, because Leach believed he was responsible and did not want to raise a child.
Leach, 21, wore gloves and left none of his own DNA behind, Kubricht said.
"He was very, very meticulous," Kubricht said. "It was very well-planned and well executed."
There was no answer at Leach's residence in Rosenberg on Thursday. He was arrested Tuesday, a day after his indictment for murder, and remained in county jail on $100,000 bond.
He was expected to get a court-appointed attorney, Kubricht said.
"Something said, between that and the movie, he felt in order for him to have redemption he would have to confess his sin and do his time," Kubricht said.
Leach faces up to life in prison if convicted.
I'm really glad it had that effect on him...but IMHO, he's the exception not the rule.
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