‘The Passion’ Sells 2.4 Million DVDs
LOS ANGELES – The DVD of Mel Gibson’s biblical epic “The Passion of the Christ” went on sale Tuesday and sold 2.4 million copies by midday.
“We think a lot of the consumers will be going in after work to pick it up,” said Steve Feldstein, spokesman for Fox Home Entertainment, which is distributing the DVD. Total one-day sales figures for the movie were expected Wednesday.
“The Passion,” starring Jim Caviezel as Jesus, earned more than $370 million at the North American box office, making it the second-most popular movie of the year behind “Shrek 2.”
The film was also one of the most controversial movies in years. Besides its violent depiction of the crucifixion, some Jewish organizations complained it might spark a rise in anti-Semitism by blaming ancient Jewish people for killing Christ.
“Finding Nemo” holds the record for one-day DVD sales with about 8 million, but it’s unclear how that movie was selling by midday on the day of its release, said Scott Hettrick, editor in chief of DVD Exclusive magazine.
“This is really good, but it’s really hard to do an apple-to-apple comparison,” he said. “It’s been less than a handful of movies that have done first-day sales reporting.”
He said “The Passion” is on track to sell as well as other Hollywood blockbusters such as “Spider-Man” and “The Lord of the Rings” movies, which topped out between 15 million and 18 million total DVD sales.
Churches and religious groups were active in trying to promote the movie to their congregations, sometimes buying huge blocks of theater tickets for sale to parishioners. Many DVDs were paid for well in advance and picked up Tuesday.
Fox Home Entertainment reported that each customer bought an average of 1.8 copies of the DVD.
Filmed in Aramaic and Latin, the movie was sold with English subtitles on VHS for $24.98, and English and Spanish subtitles on DVD for $29.98.
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