It’s already been 21 years, so nobody should be faulted for forgetting just how seminal of a year 2004 was for cinema.
(It’s no 2023, at least.)
But even a cursory glance at 2004’s film releases reveals a murderer’s row of beloved films.
From the critically acclaimed films, like “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” “Million-Dollar Baby,” and “Crash,” to cult classics like “Kill Bill Vol. 2” and “The Notebook,” to countless other films, like “The Incredibles,” “Team America” and “Spider-Man 2,” 2004 was a moviegoer’s dream.
But one film that year stood head and shoulders above the rest, and it’s not “Napoleon Dynamite.”
Perhaps the biggest — and that’s saying something — 2004 film to release was Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ,” a biographical look at the life of Jesus Christ.
It was, to put it lightly, a smash hit.
As noted by Box Office Mojo, with just a modest Hollywood budget of $30 million, the film would go on to make over $610 million at the box office across the world.
Over half of that box office total came domestically, showing a strong American interest in the film, though that’s not to diminish the impressive global numbers, either.
Have you seen the first film?
And despite the iterative nature of Hollywood, there was no immediate sequel.
Flash forward two decades, and a sequel hasn’t just been announced, it’s got an official new title — and major studio partner.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Gibson’s highly anticipated sequel film will be working with Lionsgate Studios.
Lionsgate will help with production of the film and will also help distribute it.
The Hollywood studio already got to work helping promote the film, including its official new title:
THE RESURRECTION OF THE CHRIST – coming soon. pic.twitter.com/DXARSRjull
— lionsgate (@Lionsgate) May 15, 2025
On Thursday, Lionsgate helped spread the word that the official new title of Gibson’s sequel film will be “The Resurrection of the Christ.”
Rumors had been rumbling for years that this sequel film would focus on Jesus’ resurrection, and the new movie title all but confirms that to be the case.
Both the 2004 film and the undated sequel film star Jim Caviezel as Jesus, and the actor has previously described the forthcoming sequel as “the biggest film in history.”
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