Newsbites: Resurrection budget! FKA Twigs on Mary! Ruth & Boaz top ten update!
The two-part follow-up to The Passion of the Christ could be the most expensive Bible-movie project ever.
The Resurrection of the Christ budget revealed, script details still secret
Mel Gibson famously paid for The Passion of the Christ out of his own pocket; it cost $30 million to produce at a time when his acting fee was $25 million per movie.1 Now its follow-up, The Resurrection of the Christ, is shaping up to be one of the most expensive Bible-movie projects ever—and Gibson’s looking to raise some funds.
Deadline reports:
Mel Gibson’s two-part feature The Resurrection Of The Christ is likely to be the biggest-budget project on sale at next month’s American Film Market.
We’re hearing from sources that each film could come with a budget in the $100M region, making it a combined $200M prospect. Those are rare numbers these days in the independent market.
Just think what these films could have cost if Gibson had had to de-age his actors!
Prior to this, the most expensive movie Gibson directed was 1995’s Braveheart, which cost $53-72 million depending on who you ask. A budget in that range would probably be about $110-150 million today once you adjust for inflation—but even that figure falls well short of the $200 million that The Resurrection will cost.
As far as Bible films go, there have only been a few in recent decades that came even close to costing this much, but the priciest of the lot was probably Ridley Scott’s Exodus: Gods and Kings, which reportedly cost $140-200 million.
Other recent contenders include:
Darren Aronofsky’s Noah — $125-160 million
the 2016 remake of Ben-Hur — $100-110 million
The Prince of Egypt — $60-100 million in 1998 dollars
Also, if you adjust for inflation, the two biggest epics of the 1950s would probably still be cheaper than The Resurrection too—but the economics of filmmaking were so different back then I wouldn’t want to compare the two eras too directly:
The Ten Commandments — $13 million in 1956 — $154.8 million today
Ben-Hur — $15.2 million in 1959 — $169.2 million today
Deadline adds that there is still a “shroud of secrecy” around The Resurrection’s scripts, but insiders confirmed a few details that Gibson has teased in the past:
In an unusual move for an independent film in production, buyers aren’t being afforded the opportunity to read the scripts ahead of AFM. It’s not even clear whether they’ll be able to do so during AFM, despite the expected big territory asks. Buyers may have to take a leap of faith with Mel. . . .
Sources close to the project have confirmed to us that it will include battles between angels and demons and forces of ‘good and evil’ in other realms, which probably goes some way to explaining the big budget.
Gibson has been talking about the depiction of demons and “other realms” in this film for years; I rounded up some of those comments here and here.
We’ll find out soon enough if all the extra expense was worth it. The Resurrection of the Christ is coming to theatres in two parts on March 26 and May 6, 2027.
FKA Twigs on playing the Virgin Mary
I recently noticed that FKA Twigs gave an interview to The Hollywood Reporter a few weeks back in which, among other things, she talked about playing the Virgin Mary in the upcoming horror film The Carpenter’s Son. Here’s the relevant bit:
Even so, to take on one of the most famous women in history — and through a lens so bloody and violent — is a mighty tall order. “The Virgin Mary has been portrayed as a woman who is very agreeable — she’s a virgin, she’s sweet and she obeys. I personally didn’t feel that for my Virgin Mary,” says Twigs of her approach. “I felt like she’s somebody very powerful who doesn’t have to say a lot. I didn’t want to mistake her peacefulness for weakness. The peace within her, that we see so much in pictures and in scripture, came from the strength and knowledge and tenacity that she had to raise the savior. And that’s an incredible amount of pressure and responsibility.”
Last year I linked to another interview she gave during a break in shooting the film, in which she talked about how “passionate” she was about religion and spirituality, and how playing the Virgin Mary just a few years after recording an album about Mary Magdalene “kind of really feels like an amazing closing of the loop for me.”
The Carpenter’s Son comes to theatres November 14.
Ruth & Boaz falls off the global top ten
Sad news, Ruth & Boaz fans. The film, a modernization of the book of Ruth, fell off the Netflix global top ten in its fourth week on the platform (October 13-19).
However, it did make the top ten in six of the national charts—all of which were in Africa or the Caribbean: it was #7 in the Bahamas, Jamaica, and South Africa, and #9 in Kenya, Nigeria, and Trinidad & Tobago.
No view count was available this week, but the #10 film on the global chart got 2.8 million views, so Ruth & Boaz was obviously somewhere below that.
The film had 28.5 million views worldwide in its first three weeks, so its four-week total would now be between that and 31.3 million. For comparison, the Nativity movie Mary got 31.8 million views in its first four weeks and two days.
Upcoming Bible movies and TV shows:
now-October 29, 2025 — The Promised Land: Season 1 (streaming: YouTube)
now-November 16, 2025 — House of David: Season 2 (streaming: Prime Video - Wonder Project)
November 14, 2025 — The Carpenter’s Son (theatrical: Magnolia)
November 2025 — Martin Scorsese Presents: The Saints: Season 2 part 1 (streaming: Fox Nation)
December 19, 2025 — David (theatrical: Angel Studios)
March 22-April 5, 2026 — The Faithful (television: Fox)
April-May 2026 — Martin Scorsese Presents: The Saints: Season 2 part 2 (streaming: Fox Nation)
second half of 2026 — The Chosen: Season 6: Episodes 1-6 (streaming: Prime Video)
sometime in 2026 — Zero A.D. (theatrical: Angel Studios)
March 12, 2027 — The Chosen: Season 6: Finale (theatrical: Amazon MGM)
March 26, 2027 — The Resurrection of the Christ: Part One (theatrical: Lionsgate)
May 6, 2027 — The Resurrection of the Christ: Part Two (theatrical: Lionsgate)
March 31, 2028 — The Chosen: Season 7: Premiere (theatrical: Amazon MGM)
no release date specified — Jacob (theatrical: Angel Studios)
no release date specified — Joseph of Egypt (streaming: Prime Video)
who knows when Malick will finish it — The Way of the Wind (theatrical)
That was his reported salary on The Patriot, We Were Soldiers, and Signs, all of which came out in 2000-2002. He started shooting The Passion in 2002.