'Passion' set for August 31st DVD release

Posted Monday, May 10, 2004 at 12:19 PM Central

by John Couture

Fox is setting up quite the DVD showdown in September. Today, Fox announced that Mel Gibson's The Passion Of The Christ wil debut on DVD and VHS on August 31st. That date comes just three weeks before, arguably, the most anticipated DVD release of all time, the original Star Wars Trilogy.

Quickly being dubbed "The Holy Trinity Vs. The Holy Trilogy," industry insiders are quick to point out that it will be a win-win situation for Fox, who will distribute both offerings. Regardless of the outcome, this duel will surely kick off the critical Fourth Quarter in grandiose fashion for DVD, which has continually seen higher sales over the past five years.

The Passion Of The Christ DVD will be noticeably threadbare containing only the movie on one disk. Allegedly, the move is intended to preserve the highest picture and audio quality, but it's easy to speculate that a Special Edition offering is in the works for a Christmas or Easter 2005 tie-in.