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Washington DC, USA,
01st September, 2004 (CNA) -
Mel Gibson's Biblical
movie The Passion of the Christ has sold 2.4 million
copies in the US by midday on its first day of release
on DVD.
Starring Jim Caviezel, the
film made $610m at the global box office after its
cinema release in February.
Some Jewish groups claimed
the film was anti-Semitic in blaming ancient Jewish
people for killing Christ.
Animated film Finding Nemo
holds the US record for one-day DVD sales, selling
around eight million copies on release.
A spokesman for distributor
Fox Home Entertainment said initial demand for copies of
The Passion on DVD and video cassette was 20% greater
than predicted.
Scott Hettrick, editor in
chief of US trade magazine DVD Exclusive, said The
Passion was expected to sell as well as Spider-Man and
The Lord of the Rings trilogy, which sold up to 18
million copies on DVD in the US.
Fox sent promotional
material to more than 260,000 churches in the
US.
Mr Hettrick said some
retailers were sending 50 Passion DVDs at a time to
church groups.
"It almost appears there's
a strong segment of the market that wants to own this in
the same way that they want to own the Bible," he said.
Having sold 2.4m
copies by noon on the first day of its American release,
The Passion of The Christ now appears on track to break
records for DVD sales - the first record likely to go is
Finding Nemo's mark of 8m DVDs sold on the first day of
release.
Industry analysts are
expecting to receive figures for the first full day of
sales late on Wednesday. |
