Mel Gibson’s ‘Resurrection of the Christ’ wraps filming, announces new release dates

Director Mel Gibson’s The Resurrection of the Christ has finished filming in Italy after a seven-month production, with Lionsgate announcing May 21 that the sequel will be released as a two-part film in 2027 and 2028.

The sequel was filmed entirely in Italy over 134 shooting days across Rome, Bari, Ginosa, Craco, Brindisi, and Matera. The production is reportedly carrying a budget of around $100 million, more than triple the roughly $30 million budget for The Passion of the Christ. Like the original, it will be performed only in Aramaic, Hebrew, and Latin. 

Lionsgate also released a first-look image from the production featuring Finnish actor Jaakko Ohtonen as Jesus Christ. 

Ohtonen replaces Jim Caviezel, who portrayed Jesus in Gibson’s 2004 blockbuster. The cast also includes Mariela Garriga as Mary Magdalene, Pier Luigi Pasino as Peter, Kasia Smutniak as Mary, Riccardo Scamarcio as Pontius Pilate, and Rupert Everett in a supporting role. 

The films are now scheduled for release on the Feast of the Ascension, with Part One set for May 6, 2027, and Part Two arriving May 25, 2028, after Lionsgate pushed back earlier planned release dates. 

“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 in a statement released by the studio. “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.” 

Lionsgate Motion Picture Group chair Adam Fogelson described the sequel as a massive undertaking more than two decades in the making.

“Mel is a true visionary with an artist’s eye for scale and a storyteller’s instinct for emotional truth,” Fogelson said. “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.”

The sequel, co-written by Gibson, his brother, and Braveheart screenwriter Randall Wallace over seven years, will span from the fall of the angels to the death of the last apostle — requiring, as Gibson told Joe Rogan, trips to hell and "Sheol" to properly set the stage. "I've never read anything like it," he said of the script.

The Passion of Christ held the record for highest-grossing R-rated film at the domestic box office for 20 years and remains one of the biggest independent films ever made, earning $610 million globally. A Barna Group survey that studied the film’s cultural impact found that millions of viewers reported changes in prayer habits, church attendance, or religious beliefs following screenings.