BALTIMORE, Maryland--The financial successes of the Christian music and entertainment business may soon be realized by mainstream marketers who have watched Mel Gibson turn "The Passion of the Christ" into one of the highest grossing movies of all time.

According to The Baltimore Sun, the film may have been just what other entertainment companies needed to push them into movies, television, music and books for the same audience that kept "The Passion" at No. 1 for weeks.

Jonathan Bock, founder of Grace Hill Media, a public relations firm that markets to religious audiences, told The Sun he thinks that the movie could change pop culture.

"Christian is the new gay," he said. "Passion's success is like when Ellen DeGeneres came out on TV. It got a ton of attention, and in the wake of that, gay characters were able to become main characters in shows. Maybe now Christian characters can appear on mainstream sitcoms, and there will be story lines that explore their journey of faith."

Some already see that happening with more network television shows depicting people of faith than ever before.

"It certainly has woken up the movie industry," Keith Simanton, managing editor of the Internet Movie Database, said of "Passion." "Religious-themed films will have a better shot than they did formerly."

But experts are having a tough time determining whether Mel Gibson is a brilliant marketer or if he simply had great timing.

Hollywood Reporter's Martin A. Grove listed ten Hollywood commands Gibson broke in the release of the film. Gibson's experiment with a middle-America release, subtitles and private financing, all big no-nos in movie town, in the end may have helped "The Passion" film succeed.

His marketing methods may prove to be lessons to the movie industry that is just now realizing there is a market for religious films, and what a market it is.