March 3, 2004
MEANWHILE, IN AMERICA:
'The Passion' could be a hard act to follow (Marco R. della Cava and Scott Bowles, 3/02/04, USA TODAY)
According to early tracking numbers from industry polling firm ReelSource, more than three-fourths of moviegoers say they will highly recommend the film to friends, while a third say they plan to see it at least once more.While those numbers aren't unheard of, they are rare for a film that is so violent, let alone subtitled and lacking big stars.
"It's nearly two hours of non-stop violence, and the audience doesn't seem to mind," says ReelSource president Robert Bucksbaum. "The only other R-rated movie we've seen this kind of response to is The Matrix Reloaded."
While The Passion has proven itself a box office force to date, this coming weekend will signal whether the film has staying power. Bucksbaum forecasts continued growth for Passion, which should do well during the run up to Easter.
Passion audiences were split between men and women, but it drew older moviegoers than most films, Bucksbaum says. Nearly 40% of the audience was 32 and older. About 7% of the audience were children ages 10 to 17.
"We're polling people who never set foot into a theater before this," he says.
The film played well in heartland cities such as Oklahoma City and Dallas. In Kansas City, Kan., theaters report being sold out through Thursday. According to ReelSource's statistics, almost half the audience in the middle of the country said they went to the film for its religious message. In larger cities such as New York and Los Angeles, most attended because of the controversy.
"I think everyone has underestimated the appeal of non-Hollywood, religious-themed movies," says Bob Berney, president of Newmarket Films, which distributed The Passion. "I doubt they will now."
A telling example of just how deeply the film seems to have touched the public: Yahoo Search reports that on Oscar night, the most searched movie was not the statuette-grabbing Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, but rather The Passion, by a 4-1 margin.
No one outside of Hollywood underestimates how much better they'd do if they made non-Hollywood movies. Posted by Orrin Judd at March 3, 2004 8:28 AM
Well, Disney announced a big-budget release of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe due out Christmas 2005 (!)
I cannot help but think they were trading on the furor of The Passion to make an announcement of a movie whose release date is about 2 years away.
Posted by: Bruce Cleaver at March 3, 2004 8:59 AMOh, it'll be lush, all right, but will it have the spirit of the books? I dunno...
I think passion for the Passion is going to dip after a couple of weeks, then uptick just before Easter. I'd love it to rival Star Wars, but it isn't the sort of movie, I gather, that anyone can go through more than once or twice.
Everything I've heard indicates it's the closest thing out there to a invokable spiritual experience. Thus, it resonates with Christians, but will fall flat with everyone else. Thus, it seems that we do not judge the film, as much as the film judges us...
Posted by: Ptah at March 3, 2004 11:30 AMPtah, that's quite an interesting insight.
Posted by: Bartman at March 3, 2004 1:30 PMWell, if it "resonates with Christians" that's only what, 85% of the population?
Posted by: brian at March 3, 2004 1:52 PMMy husband pooh-poohed my thought, but I wonder if one reason Robbins/Penn/Hollyweird didn't really go off on Sunday was because of the box office. The flyover states were speaking and money, does, after all, mean the most in Hollyweird.
Posted by: Sandy P. at March 3, 2004 2:40 PMTough act to follow? Gibson's still got the Resurrection, doesn't he?
Then Pentecost and the Transfiguration.
He's set for life.
Posted by: Harry Eagar at March 4, 2004 8:43 PM