It's very possible that it's going to rise up and start screaming like no one's ever heard it before. I have a feeling that the sleeping giant has woken. It makes all of us feel great that there's that moral value out there that appreciates what this movie is suggesting, and I hope it encourages more. Scott: Isn't today's box office tally vindication? This is really becoming a voice for people who live between Hollywood and Manhattan. They just don't realize that there's a whole lot more out there than what they know. They've been making a pretty good living attracting the audience that they're familiar with. I don't know how for so long they've gotten it wrong. So how could so many people get it wrong in Hollywood if it's all about money? Scott: We're talking about the fourth all-time opening week ever. What we're learning here is that there's a whole world out there that no one's tapped into for decades, and they are coming out right now because there's something there that's of interest. Hollywood may be out of touch with what's going on in the world or in America and with what they want to see.

I think that the audience for this movie has been ignored for four decades. Again, it's in Aramaic and Latin and it's about Jesus. It didn't make good business sense for various studios to get behind this film. Steve: Oh, there were definite problems getting distribution. Scott: How has Hollywood responded to you or to Mel Gibson about what he's done? How we did so well with the bad reviews we got is an interesting question. The word out there is that he's delivered that. The people expect something pretty spectacular from him.

He made 'Braveheart,' and 'Braveheart' is a very powerful film. Certainly the controversy has brought the attention to your average filmgoer that might not look at a film about Jesus in Latin and Aramaic. The mainstream media isn't aware of the high interest there. I think that the subject matter is something that people are quite interested in. Steve: Well, you know there's a lot of different factors involved. Scott: To what do you attribute the amazing first week?

In fact, the week before it opened the professional estimates were between $15 and $20 and the day before we opened they jumped from $20 to $25. It surprised all of us that it was that high. Scott: I have not heard anyone say that they expected the office that you've gotten. Today's box office sales total is estimated at $160 million (according to ) prior to the film's second weekend in theaters. Recently, The Word 100.7 ( KWRD) talk-radio show host Scott Wilder of 'The Scott Wilder Show' spoke with Steve McEveety, executive producer of 'The Passion of the Christ,' about the surprising success of the film at the box office.

The passion of christ movie producer