Mel Gibson's Passion

I received inquiries about the possibility that the GCP might respond to the opening of Mel Gibson's new film depicting Jesus of Nazareth's last few hours, focusing on the torture and suffering.

"It seems that there is an amazing amount of controversy developing around it...and since it opens tomorrow -- Ash Wednesday-- I thought I'd ask. I have not seen people talk about a film like this before, both in and out of print...and on television." -- Barbara Smith.

I can't make a formal prediction, but decided to look at the data on the 25th of Feb 2004, when the film was released, in an exploratory way. Here's the result -- showing the full GMT day, with the time of the first showings in the US indicated. There is a sense of agitation, with some strong trends early in the day, and a very steep drop about the time of the opening, followed by a strong and persistent positive trend. But these could be and probably are chance fluctuations, though interestingly coincident with the schedule of showings.

Mel Gibson's Passion


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