---

Associated Press, USA
Sep. 1, 2004
Anthony Breznican
www.mercurynews.com

---

ReligionNewsBlog.com • Item 8628 • Posted: Friday September 3, 2004  

---

LOS ANGELES – The second coming of Mel Gibson’s biblical epic “The Passion of the Christ” sold 4.1 million DVD copies by Wednesday after only one day in stores.

While the figure from distributor Fox Home Entertainment is high, it’s not quite a record breaker.

“Finding Nemo” holds the No. 1 overall spot for one-day DVD sales with about 8 million. For a live-action movie, “Spider-Man” holds the one-day record with 7 million.

Although “The Passion” fell short of that, Fox Home Entertainment said it did inaugurate several secondary industry records.

In terms of one-day sales, Fox is describing the movie as the best-selling R-rated film of all time and best-selling non-English language film of all time. Most DVD sales trackers, however, only divide rankings between animation and live-action.

“The Passion,” starring Jim Caviezel as Jesus, earned more than $370 million at the North American box office, making it the year’s second-most popular movie behind “Shrek 2,” which earned $436.7 million.

Gibson’s film was also one of the most controversial movies in years. Besides its violent depiction of the crucifixion, some Jewish organizations complained it might spark a rise in anti-Semitism by blaming ancient Jewish people for killing Christ.

“The Passion” DVD is on track to sell as well as Hollywood blockbusters such as “Spider-Man” and “The Lord of the Rings” movies, which topped out between 15 million and 18 million total disc sales, said Scott Hettrick, editor in chief of DVD Exclusive magazine.

Churches and religious groups were active in trying to promote the movie to their congregations, sometimes buying huge blocks of theater tickets for sale to parishioners. Many DVDs were paid for well in advance and picked up Tuesday.

Filmed in Aramaic and Latin, the movie was sold with English subtitles on VHS for $24.98, and English and Spanish subtitles on DVD for $29.98. Many retailers are cutting the price to $15 to $20, Hettrick said.

Since the “Passion” that went on sale Tuesday includes only the movie – no bonus features or documentaries that are common on most discs – a more fully loaded version of the DVD is likely in the future.

---

What You Can Do From Here

---

Read More Articles On These Topics Categories: The Passion of The Christ Share, Blog About, Bookmark, or Email This Article Subscribe Religion News Blog RSS feed [What is this?] RSS by topic: The Passion of The Christ Read Another Article Previous entry: Cult experience shapes book Next entry: ‘Hellhouse!’ pokes fun at fundamentalists’ horror shows RNB Homepage with latest headlines Find Related Information Use our custom search engines to find additional research resources on religions and cults Find Related Books The Passion of The Christ Most Popular Today World’s oldest ocean-going passenger ship, ministry ship Doulos, to stop sailing Pakistan Militants Bomb CD Shop For Selling ‘Jesus Film’ Muslim Violence Ongoing in Egypt; Christians Plead For Help

---

Share This Article

---

To share this page simply copy and paste one of these URL's:

• Post a link on your blog or website:
  
• Send in an email or IM:
  
• Post on a forum:
  

Search for information about (religious) cults, cult-like organizations, -- as well as paranormal-, New Age, and pseudoscientific claims -- across 260+ websites, blogs and forums dedicated to cult research, spiritual abuse, ex-cult counseling & support.

Note: results are listed on another domain -- CounterCultSearch.com -- from which you can easily return here.

Search for apologetics articles, books, videos, and other research resources across 135 Christian apologetics websites and blogs.

Note: results are listed on another domain -- ApologeticsSearch.com -- from which you can easily return here.