Churches are being offered bulk discounts on "The Passion of the Christ" DVD in hopes that the second-biggest movie of 2004 will top DVD sales charts.
"The Passion" arrives on DVD Aug. 31, but pre-sales of the R-rated story of the final days of Jesus are 20 percent ahead of projections.
In an unprecedented move for a Hollywood studio, Fox sent fliers to hundreds of thousands of churches inviting them to buy special packs of 50 DVDs. Fox won't release numbers about the program; spokesman Steven Feldstein says, "This film brought people to the theater that normally don't go to movies and will also bring people into the DVD purchasing pool who weren't there before." (USA Today)
