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'PASSION' YOUTH APPEAL
Variety ^ | 3-10-04 | GABRIEL SNYDER

Posted on 03/11/2004 7:39:28 AM PST by truthandlife

Who's seeing "The Passion of the Christ"?

Much has been made of how the pic has brought in older auds who prefer church pews to megaplexes. But the pic is also pulling in younger, nonreligious auds.

It is this bifurcated crowd that has turned Mel Gibson (news)'s crucifixion depiction into a cultural phenomenon which has racked up $224 million in its first two weeks of release.

"It looks surprisingly like the audience for a lot of our films," said Rick King of AMC, nation's second-largest chain. He said the heaviest demographic for "Passion" shows was ages 18-30. "Most of the people I'm seeing look like they've been in a theater before," he said.

Younger filmgoers make up the bulk of "The Passion" crowd, but Bob Berney, whose Newmarket is distributing the pic, said the aud --- as a whole --- is older than average. "The R-rating is limiting younger kids, but it is getting teens and college kids," he said. But, "like ('My Big Fat Greek Wedding') it's also getting an older audience."

Young males who flock to slasher pics seem to be taking an interest in "The Passion," which has been widely characterized as gory by reviewers.

Fangoria editor Anthony Timpone said, "It's sparked an interest in my readership because of the extreme nature of the it as well as the controversy." The magazine hasn't covered "The Passion," but Timpone said horror helmer David Cronenberg (news) recently suggested he should. And at least one horror fan site, E-Splatter.com, has given "The Passion" the thumb's up: "As a horror fan, I was more than satisfied. This is not some kiddie Christ film. This is the real deal."

And Berney is happy to have their business. The strength of the pic, he said, has been its ability to attract both regular and infrequent moviegoers.

The Newmarket exit polls also found that the pic is playing much better among Latino and African-American auds.

"The Latino response has been particularly strong," Berney said. "It has been the strongest group that has said they were going to see it a second time or more."

On opening weekend, he said women outnumbered men in the audience by about 60% to 40%, but that as the pic has played, the aud is now evenly divided between male and female.

Geographically, Berney said the strongest cities have been in the South, like Atlanta and Dallas.

There have been some surprising underperforming cities, however: Salt Lake City, home of the Mormon Church, and Boston, which has a large Catholic community, are not "The Passion's" strongest towns.


TOPICS: Current Events
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1 posted on 03/11/2004 7:39:31 AM PST by truthandlife
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To: truthandlife; JohnHuang2; toddst; Dataman; sola gracia; George Frm Br00klyn Park; JenB; Jerry_M; ...
'Passion' ping
2 posted on 03/11/2004 7:40:30 AM PST by truthandlife ("Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God." (Ps 20:7))
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To: truthandlife
There have been some surprising underperforming cities, however: Salt Lake City, home of the Mormon Church, and Boston, which has a large Catholic community, are not "The Passion's" strongest towns.

Boston is about as "Catholic" as John Kerry or Ted Kennedy.

Catholicism and a pro-abortion political stance are mutually exclusive.

3 posted on 03/11/2004 7:44:04 AM PST by presidio9 ("By extending the reach of trade, we foster prosperity and the habits of liberty." -Adam Smith)
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To: truthandlife
"Most of the people I'm seeing look like they've been in a theater before," he said.

I wonder what he means by that?

4 posted on 03/11/2004 7:48:19 AM PST by Dataman
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To: truthandlife; Ragtime Cowgirl; Joy Angela; Carl/NewsMax; Clinton Is Scum
.

MEL's -PASSION- sparked by -WE WERE SOLDIERS-

http://www.TheAlamoFILM.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=39081




Signed:.."ALOHA RONNIE" Guyer / Vet-"WE WERE SOLDIERS" Battle of IA DRANG-1965

http://www.lzxray.com/guyer_collection.htm
(IA DRANG-1965 Photos)

.
5 posted on 03/11/2004 7:51:53 AM PST by ALOHA RONNIE (Vet-Battle of IA DRANG-1965 http://www.LZXRAY.com)
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To: truthandlife
They say this movie is anti sematic but I don't here the Germans complaining about Schinlers List...
6 posted on 03/11/2004 7:53:46 AM PST by ptavares
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To: presidio9
Somehow, the Christian liberals have abandoned their religion in favor of the New York Times trashing of this wonderful movie. There are a lot of simple minded "stupid" Christians who bought into the media propaganda that this movie is violent. To all these idiots I say: "if you deny me on earth, I will deny you in heaven"
7 posted on 03/11/2004 7:54:58 AM PST by philosofy123
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To: presidio9
Boston is about as "Catholic" as John Kerry or Ted Kennedy.

Maybe the author was facing a deadline so he just made a bunch of stuff up that he thought sounded sophisticated. For example, even if he had sound scientific data -- which he obviously does not -- he wouldn't be able to draw the conclusion below:

Young males who flock to slasher pics seem to be taking an interest in "The Passion," which has been widely characterized as gory by reviewers.

8 posted on 03/11/2004 7:55:53 AM PST by Dataman
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To: ptavares
They say this movie is anti sematic but I don't here the Germans complaining about Schinlers List...

What?

Speak up. I can't here you.

9 posted on 03/11/2004 7:57:11 AM PST by Dataman
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To: Dataman
"The Passion," which has been widely characterized as gory by reviewers.

This is another fallacy propagated by the left to persuade people to avoid this movie. There are plenty of critically-acclaimed popular films with much more blood and violence.

The left has tended to fixate on the "extended and overly-graphic" scourging (which "is not in the Gospel"). In reality, the camera is mostly on the faces of the Romans, Satan, the Blessed Mother, and Mary Magdalene. I wonder if more than a dozen blows are actually on camera.

10 posted on 03/11/2004 8:22:25 AM PST by presidio9 ("By extending the reach of trade, we foster prosperity and the habits of liberty." -Adam Smith)
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To: Dataman
"Most of the people I'm seeing look like they've been in a theater before," he said.
I take it that theaters have changed in the past decade from flat floors to statdium seating so that the view is less likely to be obstructed. And the theaters are typically multiscreen. Thus if in fact you haven't been to a movie since Gone With the Wind, it's likely that that would be apparent to someone watching you find your way to a particular picture showing in a modern theater.

11 posted on 03/11/2004 8:36:33 AM PST by conservatism_IS_compassion (Belief in your own objectivity is the essence of subjectivity.)
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To: presidio9
The left has tended to fixate on the "extended and overly-graphic" scourging (which "is not in the Gospel").

That's another half-truth of the left. The scourging is certainly accurate as we know both from Roman history and Isaiah.

12 posted on 03/11/2004 8:45:47 AM PST by Dataman
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To: presidio9
The left has tended to fixate on the "extended and overly-graphic" scourging (which "is not in the Gospel"). In reality, the camera is mostly on the faces of the Romans, Satan, the Blessed Mother, and Mary Magdalene. I wonder if more than a dozen blows are actually on camera.

I agree. "Braveheart" is far more violent than "Passion". The difference is that the violence in the "Passion" is totally directed one single innocent man.

13 posted on 03/11/2004 8:50:37 AM PST by elbucko
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To: elbucko
The difference is that the violence in the "Passion" is totally directed to one single innocent man.

Wake up, Buck.

14 posted on 03/11/2004 8:54:10 AM PST by elbucko
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To: conservatism_IS_compassion
Thus if in fact you haven't been to a movie since Gone With the Wind, it's likely that that would be apparent to someone watching you find your way to a particular picture showing in a modern theater.

No, that would be acting like they'd been in a theater before. The claim was that they looked like they'd been in a theater before.

What we have here, IMO, is more of the author's bias that the religious crowd that made this movie a hit are a bunch of melons just out of the patch.

15 posted on 03/11/2004 9:02:19 AM PST by Dataman
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To: truthandlife
There have been some surprising underperforming cities, however: Salt Lake City, home of the Mormon Church, and Boston, which has a large Catholic community, are not "The Passion's" strongest towns.

Come back to The Written Word... The Written Word Made Flesh... Salt Lake City and Boston.

16 posted on 03/11/2004 9:07:43 AM PST by unspun (The uncontextualized life is not worth living. | I'm not "Unspun w/ AnnaZ" but I appreciate.)
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To: presidio9
"In reality, the camera is mostly on the faces of the Romans, Satan, the Blessed Mother, and Mary Magdalene. I wonder if more than a dozen blows are actually on camera."

Exactly. And Christ's dignity as he responds to the punishment. The blows are not the focus at all.

17 posted on 03/11/2004 10:03:32 AM PST by AMDG&BVMH
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Comment #18 Removed by Moderator

To: truthandlife
Like I said on another thread, I teach at the U. of Dayton and would estimate that out of my 110 students, probably 40% have already seen it and several others indicated they were going to see it. We don't have a commuter campus, and the good theaters aren't in walking distance, so I have a feeling many are just waiting for rides.
19 posted on 03/11/2004 11:56:05 AM PST by LS (CNN is the Amtrack of news.)
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To: Canticle_of_Deborah; Desdemona; NYer
ping
20 posted on 03/11/2004 12:02:30 PM PST by nickcarraway
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