Hollywood Bosses Vow to Destroy Gibson

"I won't hire him. I won't support anything he's part of."

So says a chairman of a major Hollywood studio quoted today by the New York Times in its latest attack on Mel Gibson and "The Passion of the Christ."

Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen, who along with Steven Spielberg are the big cheeses at the powerful DreamWorks, and who just happen to be Democratic activists, are angry about the movie, according to the Times. And the chairmen of two other big studios, who of course remain anonymous, say they won't work with Gibson.

"Amid the daily dealings of Hollywood, the film and the star have been fodder for unfavorable gossip. Dustin Hoffman has talked to friends about what he called Mr. Gibson's 'strangeness' during the ABC interview. The producer Mike Medavoy said Mr. Gibson's religious zealotry made him feel uncomfortable," the Times fretted.

'Antichrist' Welcome

Others, however, think Tinseltown's notorious avarice will rule in the end.

"If the movie works, I don't think it will hurt him. People here will work with the Antichrist if he'll put butts in seats," said John Lesher, an agent with Endeavor.

And the butts, as Lesher so delicately puts it, are there. The movie, budgeted at $25 million or $30 million, according to conflicting media reports, is already breaking even.

Record Audience

The movie, playing on 4,643 screens in 3,006 theaters, made an astonishing $23.6 million Wednesday, in addition to $3 million earned in private screenings for church groups Monday and Tuesday, the Associated Press reported this afternoon.

The box office is unprecedented for an R-rated foreign-language movie. Only studio blockbusters such as "Spider-Man" have had better openings.

Looks as if Gibson will get to laugh all the way to the bank. "After theater owners take their cut, about half of the box-office take will come back to Gibson, who then pays Newmarket a percentage fee for distribution," AP said.

Editor's note:
Just released! Mel Gibson's new book, "The Passion," tells the real story. Get it for just 99 cents – save almost $24 – Click Here Now!

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
Mel Gibson's "Passion"