Mel Gibson’s ‘Resurrection of the Christ’ Gets New Dates

Mel Gibson’s long-awaited follow-up to The Passion of the Christ is coming — just not quite as soon as fans had hoped. The filmmaker revealed the first official image from The Resurrection of the Christ this week alongside news that both films in the two-part epic have been pushed back, with Part Two now landing a full year later than originally planned.

Part One, previously dated for March 26, 2027, will now open on May 6, 2027. Part Two has moved from that same 2027 window all the way to May 25, 2028 — Ascension Day, which carries obvious thematic weight for a film about the risen Christ. Lionsgate, which is distributing the films in North America and the UK, confirmed that the original dates were simply too close together given the sheer scale of both productions. Slotting them into the spring and early summer windows gives each film room to breathe — and to perform.

The March 26 slot Part One vacated won’t sit empty for long. Lionsgate will fill it with Day Drinker, the Johnny Depp-starring thriller also on their slate.

Filming Is Done — and It Was a Marathon

The delay comes alongside genuinely good news: principal photography on both films has officially wrapped. The production shot for 134 days across Italy, with locations spanning Rome, Bari, Ginosa, Craco, Brindisi, and Matera — a sweep of the country that clearly chased the visual scale Gibson has always been known for. And by all accounts, it finished ahead of schedule.

Gibson, who co-wrote the scripts with Braveheart collaborator Randall Wallace, hasn’t been shy about how ambitious this project is. He’s previously described the films as an “acid trip” and said he “never read anything like” the screenplays — which is saying something for a man who’s directed everything from medieval Scottish battlefields to Mayan jungle warfare. The sequel is expected to go well beyond a traditional resurrection story, with Gibson previously teasing elements involving Hell, fallen angels, and the spiritual realm.

In a statement released with the first-look image, Gibson was unambiguous about what this project means to him personally.

“I’m deeply grateful to my incredibly talented cast and crew for pouring their hearts into this production. Together, we created something powerful,” Gibson said. “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.”

He added that reuniting with original collaborators from The Passion of the Christ allowed him to bring the story to the screen “exactly as I envisioned it.”

A New Jesus, a New Mary Magdalene

One of the biggest changes from the original film is the cast. Jim Caviezel, who became synonymous with the role of Jesus after The Passion, is not returning — nor is Monica Bellucci, who played Mary Magdalene. Taking over as Jesus is Finnish actor Jaakko Ohtonen, while Mariela Garriga steps in as Mary Magdalene. They’ll be joined by Pier Luigi Pasino, Kasia Smutniak, Riccardo Scamarcio, and Rupert Everett.

It’s a significant recast for a sequel to one of the most culturally impactful films of the last quarter century. The Passion of the Christ opened in 2004 to a staggering $83 million debut weekend and went on to earn $370 million domestically and over $610 million worldwide — all against a $30 million budget. For years it held the title of highest-grossing R-rated film in domestic box office history, a record only broken recently by Disney’s Deadpool & Wolverine, which pulled in $636 million stateside in 2024. The original also earned three Oscar nominations, for Makeup, Cinematography, and Original Score.

Lionsgate Motion Picture Group chair Adam Fogelson made clear the studio believes Gibson is delivering something worthy of that legacy. “Every image we’ve seen from set feels like a masterwork painting brought to life,” Fogelson said. “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.”

For Gibson, the wait has been just as long on his end. His last directorial effort, the Mark Wahlberg plane thriller Flight Risk, landed earlier this year to modest results — $48 million globally. But The Resurrection of the Christ is clearly the project he’s been building toward, the one he’s been carrying for two decades. Whether audiences will turn out the way they did for The Passion remains the big question — but Gibson, at least, sounds like a man who has already made exactly the film he set out to make.