Determined to insulate his controversial "The Passion of Christ" and to personally control the movie's challenging marketing, director Mel Gibson has decided to distribute it through his company, Icon Entertainment, according to sources close to the film.
The story of the last hours in Jesus Christ's life, "The Passion of Christ" will be released nationwide by Icon on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 25. Newmarket Films, which has distributed "Whale Rider" and "Memento," will assist Icon in shipping prints of the film and collecting money from theaters.
Gibson will bypass Hollywood's traditional means of distribution, in which studios and independent companies arrange for a film's marketing, publicity, distribution and accounting. Gibson showed the film to 20th Century Fox, but Fox declined to distribute it.
The movie has been both praised and condemned by religious leaders since Gibson completed filming this year.
Many of the film's critics have not seen the movie but have criticized an early screenplay, saying it demonizes Jews. The Anti-Defamation League has suggested Gibson modify the film so it would be "free of any anti-Semitic messages."
But many of Gibson's supporters who have been invited to early screenings of the film have extolled its spirituality. Gibson has started showing the film to top Hollywood talent agents to build support within the film industry.
Gibson decided to distribute the film himself for a number of reasons, according to several of his advisors. By choosing to personally handle the film, Gibson avoids the potentially awkward spectacle of having other studios turn it down. A variety of possible buyers, including Miramax Films Corp. and Lions Gate Films Inc., had expressed interest in seeing the film but had not been shown it.
A more important factor in deciding to release the film himself, these advisors said, was that Gibson didn't want a distributor to be subjected to the same intense public criticism that he and others have faced.
When Universal produced and distributed 1988's "The Last Temptation of Christ," the studio -- and even the homes of its senior executives -- were picketed. At an August rally condemning "The Passion of Christ," Democratic New York Assemblyman Dov Hikind warned other movie companies that "they should not distribute this film. This is unhealthy for Jews all over the world."
