"Christo" is projected to hit 1/2 BILLION box office receipts world wide, and become one of the All Time top 5 Movies.

In Italy, It's first day tally for 663 of the country's roughly 2,000 screens, is an estimated $1.5 million !!!

There are those who object to "Passion of Christ" for two reasons.

(1) Violence. How amazing!! They just don't get !! This is NOT gratuitous violence,
as you see in all the crime and horror movies, but has a calculated and intended purpose to show the EXTREME DEGREE of Suffering of Christ, so as to evoke in Believers, the strongest degree of Commitment!!!!! So simple, obvious, and effective.

(2) Anti-Semitism. Of course Jews killed Christ. Jesus, a Jew, was preaching to Jews, in a Jewish nation.

Abraham Clearfield: "Everything Jesus did was as a Jew, for Jews and about Jews...

The Sadducees were represented by the priesthood, the nobility and the more conservative elements of the Jewish population, and believed in the strict constructionism of the Bible. Pharisees, who opposed wars of conquest, and believed that the addition of the oral law made the Bible more relevant to the needs of the Jewish people.

One great difference between the two parties was the Sadducees’ rejection of the concept of the resurrection, a doctrine that arose from the suffering during the Maccabean wars. The righteous would be restored, the martyrs resurrected and appear in God’s presence for judgment.

These religious and political difference between the parties was SO severe, that it resulted in a Jewish Civil War 50 years prior to Jesus birth.

Jesus’ preachings indicate that he felt the end was at hand. (RAA: He certainly was right, at least in regard to the Jewish Nation for 1900 years). To prepare for the judgment day he advised repentance and divestment of worldly goods. He also believed that strict adherence to the law should be relaxed in emergencies. In this sense he incurred the disfavor of more conservative Pharisees. Jesus’ preachings in the temple and overturning the tables of the money changers incurred the disfavor of the Sadduccees...."
"His execution was now a certainty".

However, if the Jews are to be condemned for killing Christ, they must be revered even more for GIVING us Christ, and the foundation of the Christian religion, and thus it is as ignorant to focus on Jews as Christ killers, as it is to call Mel Gibson Anti-Semitic. It's not wise to call the ignorant names. It is wise to educate them!
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MOVIES
CINEMA AND 'CHRISTO'

Italians flock to theaters as Gibson's 'Passion' opens. The movie tops $100 million around the world and heads to $355 million in the United States.

Los Angeles Times
By Kelly Carter and Elaine Dutka
Special to The Times
April 9 2004

ROME — From Milan to Palermo, people jammed theaters to see Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ," which opened in the cradle of Catholicism on Wednesday of Holy Week.

Unlike in the United States, cinemas in Italy do not ordinarily open until around 3 p.m. Yet demand for "La Passione di Cristo" in the country where it was filmed was such that theaters here were packed for 10 a.m. showings. And a Naples theater's 12:30 a.m. showing drew 331 people. By the time the first-day tally was complete, the movie, which played on 663 of the country's roughly 2,000 screens, had taken in an estimated $1.5 million.

The strategic timing of the opening in Italy represented the culmination of the movie's worldwide rollout in virtually every market except a couple in Asia...

The film has drawn huge crowds in predominately Catholic countries such as Mexico and Brazil and elsewhere in Latin America, as well as doing solid but less fervid business in France and Spain.

The film opened last weekend at No. 1 in Croatia, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong and the Philippines.

Thus far, "The Passion" has made more than $100 million in international grosses, and more than $335 million in the U.S. since its official opening Ash Wednesday, Feb. 25.

Embraced — and banned

The film is also doing well in Muslim countries, despite Islamic taboos against flesh-and-blood portrayals of holy figures, including those of Christians and Jews.

In Qatar, Lebanon, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, the film's distributor told Reuters, it has broken box office records. Large Christian minorities in Lebanon have flocked to see the film, but vocal Jewish criticism of the movie also has piqued the curiosity of large numbers of Muslims, the wire service reported....

...Antonio Adinolfi, head of marketing for Rome-based distributor Eagle Pictures, said... "I thought everyone was expecting something good but it's really huge."

Adinolfi predicts the film will earn as much as $24.3 million in Italy. To put that in perspective, "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" was released on 736 screens and has grossed nearly $28 million, since its Jan. 25 opening. There were no reported protests around Rome, whose Jewish community dates to 161 BC, making it one of the oldest in the world. But leading up to the opening there was plenty of controversy from those who contend the movie is overly violent and anti-Semitic.

"This movie is not anti-Semitic," asserted Jan Michelini, who was one of Gibson's assistants...He's been busy defending the movie on television in Rome. "It's mankind killing him…. Most young people are with the movie. Young people are used to the violence. When you switch on your TV you see blood on your screen." Not everyone was as approving. Italian newspapers Corriere della Sera and La Repubblica criticized "Passion" for its brutality, and Vittorio Zucconi of La Repubblica compared Gibson to the Taliban.[RAA: Zucconi youre an idiot!!!]

The film board had its own thoughts and gave "Passion" a surprising general admission rating, which didn't sit well with parents groups that wanted the movie restricted to prevent children younger than 14 from seeing the film.

Ennio Varanelli, president of Italy's film review board, was quoted as saying, "The children who have already taken communion and know the Gospel will know what the Passion is." In some other countries, including the U.S., admission has been restricted to older children.

An association of Catholic churches gave its blessing, thus allowing "The Passion" to play at church-owned theaters in small towns. Actor Jim Caviezel, who plays Jesus, was blessed by the pope at the Vatican on March 15. The pope saw a copy of the film weeks ago, but the Vatican continued to deny reports that he had endorsed it.

Heading into Easter weekend, Bob Berney, president of the film's U.S. distributor Newmarket Films, predicted a surge in business in the States. As expected, he said, the film's domestic box office picked up during Easter week. Though church group attendance was responsible for part of the increase, Berney said, most of the ticket buyers were individuals putting the movie on the front burner after weeks of procrastinating. Last Sunday, Palm Sunday, saw a boost of 5% to 6% over the previous Sunday and by Tuesday night the film was No. 2.

"That leads me to believe there will be a substantial uptick this weekend — maybe a $15-million or $18-million gross" in the U.S., Berney said. "Things will ease off after Good Friday and Easter, but by Sunday, 'The Passion' will probably have grossed $355 million, making it the seventh-highest- grossing [domestic release]. And we have a good shot at getting to $380 million or even $400 million, which would push us close to the top five."
*
Cast, crew gathers in Italy

Small groups of nuns, monks and priests of diverse backgrounds turned out to see the movie on its first day.

American Alan Saweris, 20, a sophomore at the theologically oriented University of Dallas and here to study for a semester, was among those in a half-full theater for a 4:10 p.m. showing with English subtitles. Usually an afternoon movie in English draws only a handful of people in Rome. Saweris said he initially did not want to see the movie because he didn't think he'd "be able to take it." But he's glad he went.

"It's like the most mind-blowing thing I've ever seen," he said afterward.

"The fact that I saw it here in Italy and not in the States makes it a unique experience. This is the movie that everyone is going to remember where they saw it and who they saw it with. The fact that I saw it in Rome with my classmates was special. I'm definitely saving the stub."...

"It's like a Caravaggio painting," Evelina Conti said. "It wasn't crudo [raw]."...

The movie will have competition beginning today. A restored version of Pier Paolo Pasolini's "Il Vangelo secondo Matteo" ("The Gospel According to Matthew"), a 1964 release about the life of Jesus Christ according to the Gospel of Matthew, upon which Gibson also relied heavily, will open in select Italian cities.
*
Correspondent Carter reported from Rome and Times staff writer Dutka from Los Angeles.

calendarlive.com: Cinema and 'Cristo'
http://www.calendarlive.com/printedition/calendar/
cl-et-carter9apr09,2,240657.story?coll=cl-calendar