Fans are totally baffled by the revelation that the Passion of Christ is coming back for a sequel.
Directed and co-written by Mel Gibson, the 2004 film The Passion of Christ was a smash hit that made $612.1 million (£473.7 million) at the box office against a budget of $31 million (£30 million).
The film starred Jim Caviezel as Jesus and focuses on the hours leading to Jesus’ crucifixion and ending with a brief description of his resurrection.
It has just been announced that filming for the new film will begin in August, with many fans only just learning that the film was getting a sequel.
Despite the first film being a total smash hit, many expressed major concern about a sequel.
Namely questioning how on earth the story could be continued with the same cast 21 years after the first film.
‘I can’t understand why part 2. What are they trying to explain if the whole story was told in the original movie,’ said cubanmom_8997.
‘He already got resurrected once, what’s the plot this time?’ said debayo_xx.
‘There ain’t no way, what more to the story could you possibly need to put into a film,’ said CouchesLLC.
Other fans rightly speculated that the film would be focusing on Jesus’s resurrection, but with many asking how this would work with a significantly older cast, considering the resurrection took place three days after the crucifixion.
‘After more than 23 years, will he still look the same. Jim Caviezel will have to pull this off one way or the other because he’ll surely look older now,’ said MrChikay.
‘Dang! Took them a lot longer than 3 days to make a sequel,’ said colin_gladman.
‘I know it’s about the resurrection, but…. I just struggle to understand what the entertainment factor would be in that part of the story?’ said MovieMediaX.
Fans also pointed out that another glaring problem was that Jesus was still being played by a white actor.
‘Why is he not Arab. Jesus is Arab,’ said Micky1_Bang.
‘Why is there a white man portraying Jesus? (Who was born in the Middle East btw)’ said andrygr7ve.
‘They still refuse to make Christ the way he’s supposed to look lol,’ said AWALBAYAREA.
The star-studded original cast included Maia Morgenstern as Mary, the mother of Jesus, Monica Bellucci as Mary Magdalene, and Christo Jivkov as John.
As Caviezel has been confirmed to return to the role, it is speculated that the rest of the cast is set to follow suit for this blockbuster.
Speaking to Joe Rogan on his podcast, Gibson spoke about the upcoming sequel and hopes for a 2026 release date.
‘I’m hoping next year sometime. There’s a lot required because it’s an acid trip. I’ve never read anything like it,’ he said.
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‘It’s about finding the way in that’s not cheesy or too obvious,’ he said. ‘I think I have ideas about how to do that and how to evoke things and emotions in people from the way you depict it and the way you shoot it. So I’ve been thinking about it for a long time. It’s not going to be easy and it’s going to require a lot of planning and I’m not wholly sure I can pull it off to tell you the truth, it’s super ambitious. But I’ll take a crack at it because that’s what you got to do, right, walk up to the plate, right?’
Speaking to ComicBook.com, he also teased how he could bridge a gap between both films after more than two decades.
‘I have ways of dealing with that, because 20 years ago is [supposed to be] three days later,’ he coyly shared. ‘So it has its own peculiar set of problems, which I think I can solve.’
Since the release of the Passion of Christ, Gibson has gone on to direct Apocalypto, Hacksaw Ridge, and Flight Risk – which was torn to shreds by critics after its release earlier this year.
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