Gibson reaps manna
2004-03-26 20:34
Los Angeles - Screen star Mel Gibson is reaping manna from heaven after breaking Hollywood's ten commandments of film-making with The Passion of the Christ, which is on the path to shattering box office records.
The Catholic movie-maker took an unprecedented risk on the film that depicts the grisly last hours of Jesus Christ, financing it with 25m of his own money and foregoing traditional publicity amid a dearth of investors as a polemic swirled over the expected content of the movie.
But after breaking all the rules of Hollywood movie-making - which teach film-makers to blitz the public with glossy ad campaigns and never finance their own projects - the gamble has paid off, perhaps to Gibson's own surprise. The film faces another test this weekend, as it hits European screens starting on Friday.
"What Gibson did was incredibly dangerous and incredibly successful," University of Southern California film professor Richard Jewell told AFP. "He played the lottery and he won."
"None of the studios wanted to touch this thing with a 10-foot pole, so the only way he could do this was put up his own money," he said.
After just five weeks in release, the controversial movie has become one of the top 20 best-performing films in North American history, grossing more than $295m domestically and another $14.4m overseas.
It is already the second best-performing movie of the year, behind the Oscar-winning "The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King," which has grossed more than $373m in 15 weeks, sparking speculation that Gibson's gamble could make Hollywood re-examine the way it does business.
Cinema experts estimate that the movie could end up bringing in anything from R400m to one billion dollars at the box office, putting it well within range of becoming one of the most successful movies in history.
And it is Gibson who will be the big winner, both at the bank and in terms of the renewed power and influence the action star and mogul is already wielding in Hollywood because of "The Passion."
Coup
"It's extraordinary the amount of money that will be returned to (Gibson) because he financed the film and also paid for its promotion himself," said Hollywood Reporter columnist Martin Grove.
"I believe he never envisioned that money would ever come from this film. He has his sincerely held beliefs and put his money where his mouth was and is now reaping the rewards," he told AFP.
But experts warned that while movie moguls may be green with envy over Gibson's coup, which came after he battled for years to find a firm willing to distribute the film that has been slammed for its graphic violence and alleged anti-Semitism, they were unlikely to copy the risky business model.
"The smart people in Hollywood will look at what's going on here and will be in a state of shock," Jewell said. "When they come out of shock, they will not see a whole new approach to making and marketing pictures here.
"It was an absolute fluke. There will probably be some people who will rush in and try it, but I think they will be very sorry."
Movie industry watchers believe Gibson decided to make the movie, whatever the cost to himself, but that he got worried when it began drawing early criticism that it promoted anti-Semitism by suggesting that the Jews were responsible for the death of Christ.
That prompted him to clamp down on the traditional preview screenings of the film and to strictly limit access to it, a move that ended up building anticipation and chatter about the film.