Churches have bought blocks of tickets, and many hope the Mel Gibson film draws people to Christianity.
By SHARON TUBBS
Published February 17, 2004
[Photo: Newmarket Film Group]
Mel Gibson, right, directs actor Jim Caviezel, who plays Jesus, on the set of The Passion of the Christ. Gibson is a member of a sect that split from the Roman Catholic church.
In a little less than two weeks, movie theaters across the country will turn into makeshift sanctuaries with preachers answering questions about Jesus' crucifixion and, possibly, evangelists handing out religious tracts.
Churches nationwide - in California, Texas, Florida, Illinois - have already bought thousands of advance tickets and rented theater auditoriums for private screenings of Mel Gibson's highly anticipated movie, The Passion of the Christ.
Church groups started calling theaters in mid January. More than a month before the film's Feb. 25 release, they wanted to reserve tickets and work out rental contracts. Some snagged thousands of seats. The movie is scheduled to play on 2,000 screens.
"We have not seen this level of activity for any movie, ever," said Dick Westerling, senior vice president of marketing for Regal Entertainment Group, which owns Regal Cinemas, United Artists Theatres and Edwards Theatres. About 420 of Regal's 550 theaters will show the film.
To handle Passion requests, AMC Theatres hired five more people at its corporate offices in Kansas City, Mo., said Rick King, senior vice president of corporate communications. This, he said, is bigger than the Harry Potter movies, bigger than Lord of the Rings.
The movie is about the last 12 hours of Jesus' life before the crucifixion. For theater execs, it spells dollars. But evangelicals are hoping for a more spiritual currency, in the form of Christian converts.
The idea is this: Rent an auditorium and encourage church members to bring non-Christian friends or relatives. When the movie ends, start a spiritual discussion where people will presumably ask questions about Jesus and what they saw on film. Churches that buy blocks of tickets and have members sit in auditoriums with the public can still follow up later with guests who have questions.
The movie, which includes a graphic scene of the crucifixion is R-rated, so some churches aren't selling tickets to kids.
"Our focus is really on reaching the unchurched," said Mike Moore, small-group pastor of Grace Family Church in Tampa. "I think one thing that we're going to find in this movie is that it's not necessarily just targeted for the Christian."
Grace Family Church rented a 360-seat auditorium at the theater at Westfield Shoppingtown Citrus Park for a preview of the movie Feb. 24. The church plans to rent an auditorium or reserve blocks of tickets for additional showings, Moore said.
Some congregations are advertising the movie with Passion paraphernalia, including posters, banners and door hangers created by the faith-based marketing company Outreach Inc. The firm is working with Gibson's company, Icon Productions.
Other religious groups have found various ways to use the movie as an evangelical tool.
Campus Crusade for Christ, based in Orlando, created its own Passion Web site two months ago, www.passionofchrist.com - not to be confused with the movie's official Web site, www.thepassionofthechrist.com "We realized that there were two things that were not available for the Passion movie," said Allan Beeber, director of the organization's WorldLINC Ministries.
One, he said, is a "seeker site" for non-Christians who see the movie and want to ask questions about Jesus. The second is a list of resources for believers to learn more. He thinks the organization's Passion site and other Campus Crusade sites will fill that void.
Beeber envisions people walking out of movie theaters saying, "I had no idea what he went through and I'd like to know more about him."
The American Tract Society, which publishes hand-size Christian booklets, calls the movie "one of the greatest opportunities for evangelism in 2000 years." The release, ATS created two Passion tracts, "The Passion of the Christ" and "The Passion - Who Crucified Jesus?" The organization has made similar tracts for other popular movies, including The Matrix and Finding Nemo.
"Folks are handing them out at movie theaters and - really - anywhere, and we are hearing back from many people who are reading the tracts and relating and responding to the message," the organization's Web site says.
Evangelicals sidestep contention surrounding the movie, much of which comes from Jews who think it will spark anti-Semitism by portraying them as the people who killed Jesus.
Gibson, who was born to a Roman Catholic family, is a member of a schismatic sect that split from the Catholic Church after the reforms of Vatican II in 1962. The group rejects the authority of all popes since Vatican II.
He has shown versions of the film to private audiences of Christians. He held some screenings at megachurches, such as Saddleback Church in California, where the Rev. Rick Warren, author of the bestseller The Purpose Driven Life, has been a strong supporter.
The secrecy has only boosted the level of controversy - and determination to see the movie. During a recent screening at a pastors conference in Orlando, two rabbis posed as members of a fictitious church to get in unnoticed. A reporter was kicked out of the screening after organizers said she breached an agreement that prevented her from immediately writing about the film.
But this and similar conflicts have not scared off evangelicals or theater executives.
"In the course of a year, there's always something controversial about a movie," AMC's King said.
Local church leaders say the fear of anti-Semitism is unfounded. "Every Christian I know loves our Jewish brothers and sisters," said the Rev. Matthew Hartsfield, senior pastor at Van Dyke United Methodist Church in Lutz.
Hartsfield saw the film in Chicago and thinks moviegoers will appreciate it for its historical context. It's like watching Schindler's List, he said: People didn't walk away from the movie about the Holocaust hating all Germans. His church is buying several blocks of tickets at local theaters. Hartsfield expects that his 2,000-plus congregants will fill more than 1,000 theater seats in the weeks after The Passion's release.
Moore, of Grace Family Church, said Jesus' death is everyone's burden because he died for the sins of mankind.
"I just can't point my finger at a Jew," he said, acknowledging his own transgressions. "I have broken the heart of God. As Christians, we take as much part in that (the crucifixion) as the Jewish nation."
Other congregations were recently finalizing plans. St. James United Methodist Church in Tampa was readying to see the movie Feb. 29 at a Muvico theater in New Tampa. First Baptist Church of Indian Rocks in Largo was looking for a theater auditorium to rent. First Baptist Church of St. Petersburg bought 120 tickets for opening night at R/C ParkSide Movie 16 in Pinellas Park, where several others had already rented auditoriums, including Glad Tidings Assembly of God, also in St. Petersburg.
General manager Cheryl Basallo said she has never seen anything like this. The release of a Star Wars movie in digital projection ranks a distant second, Basallo said. She recently called her corporate office and asked for a second print of the movie to accommodate demand. Basallo, like other theater managers, said she won't presell all tickets, so the general public can see the movie, too.
At ParkSide, The Passion of the Christ will have eight showings a day.
