Passion breaks more records

Mel Gibson's Biblical epic The Passion of the Christ has broken more records.

17:41 09 September 2004

Mel Gibson's Biblical epic The Passion of the Christ has broken more records.

After taking more than $370 million in the US box office alone, the film has now broken the record for DVD and VHS sales in a single week.

Close to nine million copies of the Latin and Aramaic subtitled film flew from the shelves in its first week on release, comfortably beating the record held by Lord of the Rings, despite featuring no extras or even a commentary track by Gibson. More than four million of these sales were on the first day of release.

A marketing campaign targeted at the US' religious community saw six million Christian homes e-mailed about the upcoming release.

Churches were also given bulk discounts for large orders of the film.

The controversial and brutally graphic movie details the final 12 hour of the life of Jesus.