One of the most talked about films of recent years, Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ," goes on US release Wednesday, bloated with controversy, hyped by the Church and foreshadowed by omens.
The only certainty to emerge from the heated debate over the movie is that Gibson, who pumped 25 million dollars of his own money into the project which he directed, produced and co-wrote, is sitting on a sure-fire box office hit.
"The Passion" will open -- on what is Ash Wednesday -- at 4,000 screens across the country, almost double the 2,500 originally planned by the distributors before the film became the hottest topic on primetime.
Industry insiders have predicted an opening week take of up to 30 million dollars.
Those figures are all the more extraordinary given that just one year ago Gibson was struggling to find a distributor for a film that boasts no big-name stars and dialogue entirely in Latin and Aramaic.
"No one wants to touch something in two dead languages," Gibson said at the time. "They think I'm insane -- maybe I am."
Little about "The Passion" is ordinary, from the spin-off merchandising that includes pewter crucifixion nail jewelry to the reports of lightning striking the lead actor during shooting.
The R-rated film depicts Christ's final 12 hours on earth and, by Gibson's own admission, includes extremely graphic and violent images of Jesus's torture and eventual execution at the hands of the Romans.
Controversy has focused on charges, mostly levelled by Jewish groups and strongly denied by Gibson, that the movie blames the Jews for Christ's death and will fuel anti-semitic sentiment.
Those accusations have to an extent been buttressed by unguarded comments from Gibson's father, Hutton Gibson, about the Holocaust being exaggerated and a conspiracy aimed at global Jewish domination.
Gibson and his father are both Catholic Traditionalists, who have never accepted the 1965 reforms of Vatican II which, among other things, cleared the Jews of deicide.
Gibson has staunchly defended himself and the film against the anti-semitic charge, insisting in an interview with ABC's Diane Sawyer that he had never intended to trigger a "blame game" over responsibility for Christ's death.
Jesus Christ "was beaten for our iniquities," Gibson said. "He was wounded for our transgressions and by his wounds we are healed. That's the point of the film. It's not about pointing fingers."
Jewish groups, notably the influential Anti-Defamation League, have argued that while Gibson may not be an anti-semite, his film is capable of arousing hatred against the Jews.
"This is his vision, his faith; he's a true believer, and I respect that," said the League's national director Abraham Foxman. "But there are times that there are unintended consequences. I believe that this movie has the potential to fuel anti-semitism, to reinforce it."
Church organisations, particularly those of an evangelical bent, have embraced "The Passion" on all fronts, describing it as historically accurate, artistically accomplished and spiritually powerful.
"We feel that the movie is an outstanding opportunity for evangelism," said Larry Lincoln, a spokesman for the International Bible Society, which has published a special edition of the Gospels to tie in with Wednesday's release.
Advance bloc bookings by Church groups have resulted in many movie theaters already reporting sell-out shows for the first week.
Gibson fell just short of securing the ultimate rave review when the Vatican denied reports that the Pope -- who was given a copy in advance -- had officially endorsed the movie.
On Monday, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, in an apparent attempt to clarify its position, released a collection of key documents of Catholic teachings on the Church's relationship to the Jews.
In an accompanying statement, Cardinal William Keeler, the episcopal moderator for Catholic-Jewish relations, said "any Christians involved in the presentation of the events of Jesus' death must ... avoid portrayals of Jews that might lead to collective guilt."