we hope you have enjoyed the show!

Apparently, The Passion of the Christ will now enjoy wide release, on par with other mainstream movies (such as Master and Commander):

Newmarket Films is increasing the number of movie prints to 4,000 from 2,500, and the number of theaters playing the film is seen rising to 2,800 from 2,000, Newmarket spokeswoman Brooke Travis said.

The size of the film's debut now rivals that of a major Hollywood release, underscoring the strong support Christian groups are showing after the movie faced criticism from some Jewish leaders and others who said certain scenes within the film might be viewed as anti-Semitic. Gibson has strongly denied he or the film are anti-Semitic.

This surely quells any earlier fears about restricting access to the film to conservative areas. However, that isn't even the most interesting thing about the film's pre-release mania. The article continues:

At online ticket seller Fandango.com, "The Passion" is making up nearly 70 percent of advance ticket sales and is the No. 1 movie on its sales list nearly one week before it is scheduled to reach theaters on Feb. 25, which is Ash Wednesday.

The movie has now become No. 2 on Fandango for advance ticket sales, just below $360 million domestic box office hit "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" and surpassing its predecessor "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers."

That's very impressive: to surpass the advance ticket sales of The Two Towers is astonishing. And you can be sure that this film will enjoy multiple viewings from Jews and Christians alike. As they say, all publicity is good publicity. Heh.