“The Resurrection of the Christ,” the long-awaited follow-up to Mel Gibson’s 2004 blockbuster “The Passion of the Christ,” has completed seven months of shooting in Italy. In videos shared on social media, the cast and crew celebrate the completion of principal photography on the project.
As ChurchLeaders reported, “The Resurrection of the Christ” is being released in two parts, both coming to theaters in spring 2027. Part one is slated to debut on Good Friday, March 26. The second installment will follow on Ascension Day, May 6.
In the sequels, Finnish actor Jaakko Ohtonen portrays Jesus, replacing Jim Caviezel from “The Passion of the Christ.” That independent film, which cost $30 million to make, grossed more than $610 million worldwide. According to reports, each “Resurrection” film has a budget of about $100 million to $125 million.
“The Passion of the Christ” sparked controversy for its R-rating, with graphic depictions of Jesus being beaten and crucified. It was filmed largely in Aramaic, while dialogue in the sequels is reportedly in English.
Mel Gibson on the Complexity of ‘The Resurrection of the Christ’
Lionsgate, the studio partnering with Academy Award-winning director Mel Gibson on “The Resurrection of the Christ,” has billed the two-part project as “the most anticipated theatrical event in a generation.”
Gibson, who wrote the screenplay with “Braveheart” writer Randall Wallace, said that process took almost eight years. The subject is “very complex and almost impossible to understand,” Gibson said last fall, “so…you have to underpin it with a great deal of all of salvation history and theology.”
The premise is so massive, Gibson added, because “you have to start with the fall of the angels in the firmament…right at the beginning.” The director said “The Resurrection of the Christ” will feature battles between angels and demons, as well as Jesus descending into hell.
Gibson admitted feeling “scared to death” by the pressure of this project. “I think if you’re not afraid of something like that, there’s something wrong,” he said. “I have to do a really good job.”
Earlier this year, Variety reported that Gibson was consulting on the sequels with Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, an excommunicated Roman Catholic leader who called the late Pope Francis “a servant of Satan.”
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