resurrectionsong

March 14, 2004

The Passion: Big in Jeddah

Mel Gibson may not add much to his take from the Saudi Market for his film, The Passion. That's not stopping enterprising entertainment pirates from capitalizing on the buzz around the movie, though.

Pirated DVDs of controversial Hollywood blockbuster “The Passion of Christ” have hit the streets and are selling like hot cakes, according to street vendors.

The film is being sold outside of supermarkets, and out of the trunk of cars for the price of SR 30or less. A copy obtained by Arab News was of high quality.

A street vendor said on condition of anonymity vendors underestimated demand for the movie because the dialogue is in Latin and ancient Aramaic rather than English. “My customers don’t like subtitled movies, but they are buying this one.”

Apparently, the appeal of this movie crosses demographics that might be a bit surprising.

Read the story.

Posted by zombyboy at March 14, 2004 11:39 PM | TrackBack

Comments

I imagine the movie will be very popular there if they see it as more 'proof' of Jewish evil.
It could turn very ugly if that turns out to be the case.

Posted by: Walter at March 15, 2004 06:32 AM

Good point. I'm going to maintain a charitable attitude on the subject until I have reason to believe otherwise, though.

Posted by: zombyboy at March 15, 2004 06:47 AM

Or it could just be that when you live in a country with a Ministry of Vice and Virtue, you'll buy up whatever movies the black market offers, particularly if you see Mel Gibson's name on it.

Posted by: andy at March 15, 2004 07:34 AM