Mel Gibson’s long-awaited sequel to The Passion of the Christ, entitled The Resurrection of the Christ, has a release date, and will be a two parter, Lionsgate announced Wednesday.
The distributor for the film tweeted that the first part of the sequel, The Resurrection of the Christ Part One, will be released on March 26, 2027 — Good Friday. Part Two will be released on May 6, 2027, Ascension Day.
News of the two-part release took many film fans by surprise, with some comparing the approach to an Avengers film.
“I cant believe Mel Gibson took the Infinity War to Endgame approach to our lord and savior,” one person tweeted.
“This is like Infinity War / Endgame for Christians,” noted another.
Gibson told Joe Rogan earlier this year that the new film, which he wrote with Randall Wallace, was like “an acid trip.”
“My brother and I and Randall all sort of congregated on this. So there’s some good heads put together, but there’s some crazy stuff,” he said. “And I think in order to really tell the story properly you have to really start with the fall of the angels, which means you’re in another place, you’re in another realm. You need to go to hell.”
He also said that he would de-age Jim Cavaziel, who played Jesus in the first film.
Background on Mel Gibson and The Resurrection of the Christ
The Passion of the Christ, released in 2004, was co-produced and directed by Gibson, from a screenplay he wrote with Benedict Fitzgerald. It also Maia Morgenstern as the Virgin Mary,and Monica Bellucci as Mary Magdalene.
The film was a massive box office success, scoring more than $600 million on a budget of $30 million, and helped open the doors to a slew of other Christian and Biblical-based production.
Also Read: No, Mel Gibson Is Not Making a Jeffrey Epstein Doc
The Passion of the Christ received mixed reviews, with some praising the filmmaking and performances, while others found the violence excessive. It received three Oscar nominations, for Best Makeup, Best Cinematography and Best Original Score.
The film marked a massive success for Gibson, who was best known for starring in the Mad Max and Lethal Weapon films before he directed and starred in 1995’s Braveheart, for which he earned Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director.
He followed The Passion of the Christ with Apocalypto, a 2006 action drama set in Mesoamerica during the early 16th century.
But 2006 also brought one of the ugliest moments of his public life: On July 28, 2006, he was arrested for driving under the influence and made anti-Semitic remarks, telling the arresting officer, “Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world. Are you a Jew?” That added to complaints from some critics that The Passion of the Christ was anti-Semitic.
Gibson apologized in a statement: “There is no excuse, nor should there be any tolerance, for anyone who thinks or expresses any kind of anti-Semitic remark. I want to apologize specifically to everyone in the Jewish community for the vitriolic and harmful words that I said to a law enforcement officer the night I was arrested on a DUI charge.”
But a few years later, audio recordings, purpportedly of Gibson and including racial slurs, insults and threats, did further damage to his reputation.
By 2016, Gibson had mounted a comeback, directing the well-received Hacksaw Ridge, winner of two Oscars.
In recent years, Mel Gibson has discussed his turnaround and sobriety, thanking God for helping him recover.
“I regard the fact that I was able to appeal to something greater than myself to help me and actually stop me [from] doing that — I think that’s a miracle,” he told Rogan earlier this year. “For me it is, and for many.”
The most recent film Gibson directed was January’s Flight Risk, a thriller set on a plane that starred Mark Wahlberg. The film was not a success, earning just $48 million globally.
Main image: The Passion of the Christ. Newmarket Fims.