The Passion of The Christ, Mel Gibson's 2004 film, grossed $610 Million in international box-office returns ( and that's prior to its March 2005 re-release).It wasn't even backed by the major Hollywood studios or nominated for any Oscars, yet audiences in the US and internationally went to see the film by the tens of millions and will likely buy the heck out of the DVD's. Furthermore, The Passion, will probably be syndicated on television forever, yielding Gibson's production company a ludicrous return on its investment.

Obviously, The Passion serves as evidence that sometimes the supply of entertainment from Hollywood and the entertainment demands of the viewing public are not well synchronized. Remarkably, the success of the film may gradually stimulate investment from a growing class of Hollywood "Outsiders" in entertainment projects that have been shot down by Hollywood "Insiders." In addition, rejected Hollywood film-makers might look to sources outside of Hollywood to finance pictures with rather sizeable budgets, pictures that may not have earned a "greenlight" from studio executives; also makers of smaller more unconventional projects may do the same; you may even have area-specific projects (a film set in the Southern U.S. financed by people in the Southern U.S.). When securing financing for a film from outside Hollywood, fundraisers will point to The Passion and say "hey, look, we want to see this proposed film ourselves and we have good market research to show that there are probably millions of people just like us, therefore lets get some money and put this production together and get it distributed."

Also, it does not seem unreasonable to believe that film financiers could use a web site on the internet to float a project idea to the public and recruit legions of small and large investors in the production. The benefits of doing so might include greatly distributing the risk of financing a film and promoting a film project well in advance of release (If you have invested 10k in a film, naturally you are going to tell 100 friends and family members and business people about your investment; as such, the film could open with a built-in market) . And, as this type of entertainment investment becomes a reality for a greater number of people, new organizations will emerge to monitor this method of film financing. For example, just as you have analytical firms (Forrester Research et al) that monitor stocks for the investing public, you might have a new breed of entertainment analyst who monitors potential film/TV ideas and then perform due diligence regarding the parties floating the idea and regarding the security of the investment

I would also say that when new outside investors participate in the financing of films (again, emboldened by the success of The Passion), you are going to see people put their money behind the projects that most reflect their own interests. Since the entertainment product (film, television) often reflects the predelictions of its financiers, you are going to see a range of productions will likely encompass a broad, A-Z political spectrum. So, it is somewhat ironic that a religiously-themed film, The Passion of The Christ might unleash a new display of broad, secular "Passions" on film and television in the 21st century.

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