Gibson to Market 'Christ' on His Own, Sources Say

Los Angeles Times ^ | October 22, 2003 | John Horn

[Rutles4Ever]

Determined to insulate his controversial "The Passion of Christ" and to personally control the movie's challenging marketing, director Mel Gibson has decided to distribute it through his company, Icon Entertainment, according to sources close to the film.

The story of the last hours in Jesus Christ's life, "The Passion of Christ" will be released nationwide by Icon on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 25. Newmarket Films, which has distributed "Whale Rider" and "Memento," will assist Icon in shipping prints of the film and collecting money from theaters.

[Rutles4Ever]

Newmarket investors are about to become extremely wealthy individuals.

[Grig]

Feb 25th is perfect, I should be done going to Return of the King over and over by then. :)

[Stopislamnow]

My first thought too.

Big payday coming for having the stones to buck big media.

[FastCoyote]

If he distributes this one okay, then they can distribute conservative movies in general. Wish Mel luck.

[presidio9]

Big payday coming for having the stones to buck big media.

This is a layup for Gibson and Newmarket. This film is going to have a huge boxoffice. I do not know a Catholic person who does not intend to go to this movie, and there are, what, 50mm of us in the US? And all of the controversy that the ADL and others are drumming up will only encourage others to go see it. My brother and I are talking about buying 10-20 tickets and passing them out in Church.

[k2blader]

Bump!

People will flock to this film.

[CWW]

If you haven't seen the trailer, go to Mel's Icon website.

iconmovies.com

It's extremely moving! This movie will be an ABSOLUTE blockbuster. Also, I cna't think of a better day than Ash Wednesday to show a movie depicting the sufferings of Christ!

[k2blader]

Hey, and don't forget us 100 million Protestants. ;-)

That's a good idea about passing tickets out in church!

[newgeezer]

Without traditional distribution, I'll be pleasantly surprised if it sees 50 theaters.

The Passion's future is on DVD.

[presidio9]

Without traditional distribution, I'll be pleasantly surprised if it sees 50 theaters.

I disagree. I think that after it has been selling out in NY and LA for a couple of weeks other theatre managers are going to be compelled to release it in their theatres. I think this movie is going to be a tru phenomenon.

[Rutles4Ever]

That's in America alone! I can't even conceive of how many people will see this WORLDWIDE.

What an incredible tool for evangelization

[Rutles4Ever]

What is "traditional" distribution? Newmarket did a helluva job marketing Memento with a cast of "nobodies". Newmarket will certainly bank on Mel Gibson and Monica Bellucci's names, but there are very few films, outside of the Star Wars series, where there is an absolute built-in audience pretty-much committed to going out to the theatre to see a movie. This is one of them.

Just an opinion.

[k2blader]

Thanks for the reminder! :-)

[nickcarraway]

Can theaters ban the movie?

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

Anyone know how to contact Gibson or Icon Pictures? He ought to skip commercial theater chains and show it directly from parish halls.

[nickcarraway]

Icon Movies

The Passion

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

I think I'll see Gibson's movie after all! Maybe invite some others! He isn't conforming with marketing, huh? Excellent!

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

"Can theaters ban the movie?"

You betcha. They can lock themselves into all manner of contractual agreements that make them look completely innocent, too. Pray for Gibson.

[stands2reason]

This film is going to have a huge boxoffice. I do not know a Catholic person who does not intend to go to this movie, and there are, what, 50mm of us in the US?

Not just Catholics...I'm sure most fundamentalists will attend....and still everyone will buy a copy on DVD/VHS...I will, and I'm not even a Christian!

[Ribeye]

Once the theaters see the potential of this film they'll be clamoring to show it.

Ban it? No. If they think they can put butts in the seats, they'll want to show it. First the independents, then the chains.

Protests would be few or non-existent and theater owners are more concerned with dollars than protesters anyway.

Theaters are hurting for revenues despite the millions in ticket sales. The money goes to the disti's and film companies. Most theater profits are made at the snack bar.