Lionsgate has shifted the release dates of Mel Gibson’s The Resurrection of the Christ, with Part One now set to arrive on May 6, 2027 (Ascension Day), and Part Two on May 25, 2028 (Ascension Day and Memorial Day weekend).
The previous dates were March 26, 2027 (Good Friday) for Part One, with Part Two slated to open just 40 days later on Ascension Day, May 6, 2027.
Day Drinker starring Johnny Depp will take the March 26, 2027 slot, Lionsgate said Thursday.
The studio, along with Gibson, Bruce Davey and their Icon Productions banner, also said today that they’ve completed principal photography on the follow-up to Gibson’s 2024 epic The Passion of the Christ. Filming concluded after shooting for 134 days in Italy across Rome, Bari, Ginosa, Craco, Brindisi and Matera.
Jaakko Ohtonen, Mariela Garriga, Pier Luigi Pasino, Kasia Smutniak, Riccardo Scamarcio and Rupert Everett star.
Lionsgate will release the film in North America and the UK, as well as in Latin America through IDC, its JV in the region, and will team with international distribution partners including Leonine (Germany), Metropolitan Film (France), Diamond (Spain), Dutch Filmworks (Benelux), Mis. Label (Scandinavia), Sun Africa (South Africa), Monolith (Poland), Vertical Entertainment (Eastern Europe), Blitz Film (Ex-Yugo), Ascot Elite (Switzerland), Pris Audiovisuais (Portugal), and Acme (Baltics) in other territories.
Icon will release in Australia/New Zealand.
Deadline understands that the studio felt the original dates were to close together given the scale of the productions. Opening on Ascension Day makes sense for both films and each becomes part of the prime summer box office window.
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“Mel is a true visionary with an artist’s eye for scale and a storyteller’s instinct for emotional truth,” said said Adam Fogelson, chair, Lionsgate Motion Picture Group. “Every image we’ve seen from set feels like a masterwork painting brought to life. There are very few directors who can operate at this level of epic spectacle while at the same time delivering such depth and conviction. Mel has crafted a film of extraordinary ambition that audiences worldwide have been waiting to experience for over 20 years.”
“I’m deeply grateful to my incredibly talented cast and crew for pouring their hearts into this production. Together, we created something powerful,” said Gibson. “This film represents a major part of my life’s work, and it has demanded everything of me as a filmmaker and as an artist. This is far more than a film to me. It’s a mission I’ve carried for over twenty years to tell what I believe is the most important story in human history. Reuniting with many of my original collaborators from The Passion of the Christ — true masters of their craft — allowed us to bring this story to the screen exactly as I envisioned it, with the tremendous support of my longtime partners, Adam and the team at Lionsgate.”
The Passion of the Christ debuted in 2004 to an opening weekend of $83 million, going on to gross $370 million in North American theaters and over $610 million globally off a $30 million production budget — an early taste of the box office clout of faith-based films. Until recently, it was the highest grossing R-rated film domestically of all time. Starring Jim Caviezel as Jesus, The Passion portrayed the last 12 hours of Christ’s life. It garnered three Oscar nominations, for Makeup, Cinematography and Original Score.
Lionsgate was home to Gibson’s most recent films, WWII drama Hacksaw Ridge starring Andrew Garfield and the thriller Flight Risk starring Mark Wahlberg. The studio is also the distributor for the Icon library, including The Passion of the Christ.