After weeks of hype, and amid the sort of controversy film producers dream about, Mel Gibson's biblical epic The Passion of The Christ goes on general release today on 59 screens in 46 cinemas throughout the Republic, writes Joe Humphreys.
The print-run may only be half of that for the latest Harry Potter movie, but says Ms Niamh McCaul, managing director of distributors Eclipse Pictures, "for a subtitled religious movie to open on so many screens is unprecedented".
Interest has been boosted by advanced bookings from religious groups, ranging from Catholic parishes to the anti-abortion Mother and Child Campaign, which plans to hold three private screenings at separate Dublin multi-screen cinemas in the coming days.
The Irish release date has been scheduled a fortnight ahead of the UK in order to capitalise on Lent when, as Ms McCaul says, "the film will have more of a resonance or impact".
While the Catholic Church has not formally endorsed the film, Pope John Paul II is rumoured to have seen it - and, most importantly, liked it. Whatever the truth of that, Ms McCaul said the distributors had found the groundswell of support for the film from certain religious groups "surprising and fantastic".
Film critics have given the release a more lukewarm reception, questioning whether the one-hour crucifixion sequence crosses the line into gratuitousness. In the absence of glowing tributes from mainstream film reviewers, UCI Cinemas have taken the unusual step of quoting endorsements from the editor of The Irish Catholic, Mr Simon Rowe, and American evangelist Billy Graham in pre-release publicity.
Ms McCaul said Eclipse had altered its marketing campaign for the film in light of extensive coverage it had received in the news media. "Initially we were going to put in a lot more press ads. But when The Irish Times, in particular, had an article every day about the movie we felt it would be better to concentrate our marketing budget on the radio."
Proving Oscar Wilde right that it is better to be talked about than not at all, the film has proved a major box-office success in America despite claims that it is anti-Semitic and historically inaccurate. Not even the death of a filmgoer from a heart attack during the film's climax on the opening night of Ash Wednesday has deterred people from flocking to the theatres.The film has taken more than $200 million (€163 million) in just over two weeks in the US, putting it in the same league as the latest Lord of the Rings film.
But it is not only the producers who hope to cash in on the success. Cinemas believe it could be the catalyst for attracting a whole new audience to films.
"We are anticipating some new faces coming through the doors, and hopefully they'll come back again," said Mr Brendan Brady, general manager at UCI Tallaght, which is showing the film on the hour every hour from today. "A comparable event was the release of Titanic when we saw a lot of people who had not been to the pictures for years returning."
The first Irish screening takes place at 10.30 a.m. today at the UGC multi-screen complex in Dublin beating UCI Tallaght by half-an-hour. Ms Emer McEvoy, marketing manager with UGC, said it had several block bookings for groups of up to 60 people who "presumably hope to discuss the movie together afterwards".
One advanced booking at the IMC complex in Dún Laoghaire had been made by parishioners of the Kill O'-The-Grange Catholic parish who plan to hold a celebration of the Eucharist at the Holy Family church after a private viewing next Sunday.
Ms McCaul said Eclipse hoped the film would run for "a good six weeks". "Like most movies," she said, "it depends on performance. If people go in mass numbers - excuse the pun - it will stay a lot longer."