By Michael Ireland

Five years after it made a first appearance in theaters the beautiful, excruciating, inspirational and controversial timeless masterpiece, THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST, will be available on Blu-ray Disc (BD) February 17 from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.

Written and directed by two-time Academy Award-winner Mel Gibson (Braveheart), and starring Jim Caviezel (Déjà Vu) and Monica Bellucci (The Matrix Revolutions), the awe-inspiring depiction of Jesus of Nazareth’s final journey to crucifixion has become the one of the most talked about films of all time, taking in over $375 million at the box office and becoming one of the 15 highest grossing movies ever, according to a media release.

The release says THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST BD showcases Caleb Deschanel’s (The Patriot) Academy Award-nominated cinematography work and features all the Definitive Edition DVD bonus materials including the theatrical and less violent, re-cut versions of the film, filmmaker commentary with Gibson, Deschanel and Editor John Wright, production commentary, theologian commentary, music commentary, an extensive collection of “making-of” featurettes, deleted scenes, historical texts and more.

THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST BD will be available for the suggested retail price of $34.99 U.S.

BLU-RAY DISC SPECS:

THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST Blu-ray Disc is authored on a dual-layer disc presented in widescreen (2.40:1 aspect ratio) with Hebrew/Latin/Aramaic 5.1 DTS HD Master Audio, SDH English and multi-language subtitles.

Bonus features include:

Disc One: Blu-ray High-Definition Disc

*Original Theatrical and Less Violent Re-cut Versions of the Film

*Enhanced Viewing Mode with Biblical Footnotes

*Audio Commentaries with Mel Gibson, Filmmakers and Theologians

*Music Commentary with John Debney (selected scenes only)

Disc Two: Standard Definition

*Making Of The Passion of The Christ Exclusive Documentary

*The Legacy: A Historical & Cultural Retrospective of the Crucifixion

*Historical Photo Gallery

*Deleted Scenes

Press materials and artwork are available for download by the Media at www.foxpressroom.com.

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