Mel Gibson is bringing the long-awaited Passion of the Christ sequel, The Resurrection of the Christ, to theaters in not one but two epic chapters. Lionsgate has officially announced that the follow-up will be split into two parts, each with its own release date strategically timed to match the spiritual tone of the story.
Part One is set to debut on Good Friday, March 26, 2027, while Part Two will hit theaters 40 days later on Ascension Day, May 6, 2027. These dates directly tie into the religious significance of the resurrection story Gibson is aiming to tell.
Jim Caviezel is expected to return to play Jesus in the film, while Maia Morgenstern, who played Jesus’ mother in “The Passion,” and Francesco De Vito, who portrayed Peter, are also reportedly on board.
Gibson previously talked about the sequel calling it “an acid trip” He went on to say that he’d “never read anything like” the script, which Gibson’s been writing alongside Randall Wallace.
He continued offering some details: “My brother and I and Randall all sort of congregated on this. So there’s some good heads put together, but there’s some crazy stuff.
“And I think in order to really tell the story properly you have to really start with the fall of the angels, which means you’re in another place, you’re in another realm. You need to go to hell. You need to go to Sheol.”
Gibson described the film as “very ambitious” and said the story not only covers “the fall of the angels” but also “the death of the last apostle.”
He said: “It’s about finding the way in that’s not cheesy or too obvious. 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?”
Gibson previously talked about the movie saying that its “not a linear narrative,” adding that “you have to juxtapose the central event that I’m trying to tell with everything else around it in the future, in the past, and in other realms, and that’s kind of getting a little sci-fi out there.”
The Passion of the Christ stunned audiences when it dropped in 2004. Starring Jim Caviezel as Jesus, the film focused on the final 12 hours of Christ’s life and broke box office records, earning $83 million its opening weekend. It went on to make $370 million domestically and over $610 million globally on just a $30 million budget. It also picked up three Academy Award nominations for Best Makeup, Best Cinematography, and Best Original Score.
While The Passion was released by Newmarket Films, Gibson announced in May that Lionsgate would distribute The Resurrection of the Christ. Lionsgate has a solid working relationship with Gibson, having released his Oscar-nominated war drama Hacksaw Ridge and the upcoming thriller Flight Risk starring Mark Wahlberg. They also handle the Icon library, which includes the original Passion of the Christ.
