Massive campaign launched to promote Passion DVD

A massive marketing campaign has been launched in America to promote the sale of Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ DVD to churchgoers.

The New York Times reported yesterday that 20th Century Fox has sent e-mails to more than six million Christian households. The company is also urging church leaders to persuade their parishioners to buy individual copies and has sent 260,000 postcards to parishes offering bulk batches of the film, the Times says.

Orders for the film are 20% ahead of projections, said Fox. The movie has already made more than £200m in the US and is number seven on the all-time US box office chart.

The DVD is out in the US on 31 August.

NEW YORK - 27 August 2004 - 130 words