The strong ratings of the History Channels miniseries The Bible helped clear the path for Son of God, released a decade after Mel Gibsons Passion of the Christ grossed more than $600 million internationally. Son of God opened to $26 million domestically, a solid result given that much of its content had already aired on television as part of the miniseries.
The two films took very different approaches to the same subject. The Passion was two brutal hours; some reviewers called it closer to a horror film than a devotional one. Gibson pursued accuracy on his own terms, actors spoke Aramaic and Latin rather than English, and lead actor Jim Caviezels appearance was digitally altered, eye colour changed, a prosthetic nose added, to read as more authentically Jewish to audiences. Son of God took a different tone entirely, marketed as both a political thriller and an epic love story, built around the same core events, the virgin birth, miraculous healing, crucifixion, resurrection, but staged for a more mainstream, less confrontational audience.
The commercial success of both films points to a durable market for serious biblical adaptation that doesnt require irony or revisionism to draw an audience, serious, biblically grounded films at two very different registers, both finding real commercial success. Whatever happened to the whimsical, countercultural Jesus of the Jesus Christ Superstar era, that particular cinematic mode has largely given way to films that treat the source material, and the audience that shows up for it, with straightforward seriousness rather than irony.
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