Mel Gibson Is Developing PASSION OF THE CHRIST Sequel
Mel Gibson is working with his Braveheart scribe Randall Wallace on a sequel to The Passion of the Christ. I've gotta say... I didn't see that coming! Gibson self-financed Passion of the Christ with 30 million dollars which exploded in theaters when it was released in 2004 and made over 611 million dollars worldwide.
The news comes from Wallace himself while talking with THR. He told them that the movie would focus on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It's really the only way they could have gone! The report goes on to say:
Wallace, who most recently directed and co-wrote the 2014 faith-based drama Heaven Is for Real, says he and Gibson began to get serious about a sequel to The Passion, the most successful independent film of all time, while making Hacksaw Ridge, which Gibson directed and Wallace co-wrote. Hacksaw Ridge opens in November and centers on World War II Army medic Desmond Doss, the first conscientious objector to be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.
Wallace was a religion major at Duke University and says the resurrection was a specialty of his. He told THR:
"I always wanted to tell this story. The Passion is the beginning and there's a lot more story to tell."
So this sounds like it's going to be a very personal passion project for him. That means there's a good chance the movie will be good. According to the writer, the demand in the Christian community influenced his and Gibson's decision and willingness to do another film.
"The evangelical community considers The Passion the biggest movie ever out of Hollywood, and they kept telling us that they think a sequel will be even bigger."
The project is still in the very early stages, and there's no studio attached and no financial backing, but once the project starts to gain some steam, I'm sure the studios and the investors will come running.
Earlier this year, Sony released a film set around the resurrection called Risen. The first half of the film was pretty good, but it lost me during the second half. There's no doubt that Gibson and Wallace would deliver something a lot better.