"The Passion of the Christ" shocked Hollywood in 2004, when few thought the public would go for a movie about Jesus Christ, especially in a foreign and what many considered a "dead" language.
But the film grossed $612.1 million worldwide and became the fifth highest-grossing film of 2004 internationally at the end of its theatrical run.
Now, 21 years later, it remains the highest-grossing (inflation unadjusted) Christian film of all time, as well as the highest-grossing independent film of all time, and director Mel Gibson is looking to start filming the sequel, "The Resurrection of the Christ," in August.
Ted Beahr of Movieguide says the details are sketchy, but the film will likely have a Catholic feel.
"I'm praying that it's gonna be a great project," he tells AFN. "The original script for the project spent most of its time in hell, and [Gibson's] talked about that quite freely, that he wants this to be more science fiction."
Baehr remembers the first film kicked off a whole generation of Christian films, from the Kendrick Brothers to "The Chosen" on Amazon Prime, but he takes the long view.
"The first movie about Jesus was in 1897," he notes. "There were three in 1898. The biggest movie was probably Cecil B. DeMille's 'King of Kings' in the 1920s."
Since then, Christian family films have come in waves, and they are piling up.
"At the year 2000, we counted about 150 movies about Jesus since the beginning of time," Baehr relays. "Now there are over 300 movies about Jesus."
This Easter brings a flood of them, including "The Last Supper," "The Chosen Last Supper," and "The King of Kings."
"The Resurrection of the Christ" may be ready for release Easter weekend 2026.
