Mel Gibson unveils first look at Jesus, pushes sequel to 2027 and 2028

Mel Gibson is betting that one of Hollywood’s most controversial faith franchises still has box-office muscle, even with a new face at the center and a delayed two-part rollout. Jaakko Ohtonen has replaced Jim Caviezel as Jesus in The Resurrection of the Christ, a casting shift that marks a major reset for a sequel tied to one of the most commercially powerful religious films ever made.

Lionsgate has now pushed Part One to May 6, 2027, and Part Two to May 25, 2028. The studio framed both dates as Ascension Day releases, and the second installment also lands over Memorial Day weekend, giving the project a launch strategy that mixes religious symbolism with a prime holiday box-office window. Earlier 2027 timing had pointed to two releases in that same year, but the new schedule stretches the franchise across two summers and gives the films a longer runway.

The release plan matters because Gibson is not simply revisiting a hit. He is returning to a property that became a cultural flashpoint when The Passion of the Christ opened in 2004 and went on to earn about $604.3 million worldwide, according to Guinness World Records. The film is widely cited as the highest-grossing religious film globally, a distinction that still gives Gibson unusual leverage in the faith-and-entertainment market more than two decades later.

That history makes the recasting of Jesus especially consequential. Caviezel’s performance helped define the original film’s identity and the intense devotion around it. Replacing him with Ohtonen suggests Gibson and Lionsgate are treating the sequel not as a direct repeat, but as a broader reset aimed at preserving the franchise while updating its commercial appeal.

Filming on the project has wrapped, and Gibson has described the film as central to his career. "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," Gibson said.

The new dates also reshape Lionsgate’s calendar, moving Johnny Depp’s Day Drinker into one of the slots the studio had previously held for the sequel. That kind of calendar shuffle underscores how much faith-media properties can still influence studio strategy when the underlying brand is strong enough. For Gibson, the stakes are just as personal: The Resurrection of the Christ is being positioned as both a sequel and a test of whether his name still carries enough power to turn religious spectacle into a major theatrical event.