Quoth Veith:

Here is what one independent studio is trying: Get Jim Caviezel, who played Jesus, to star in the new movie. Then launch a grass-roots marketing campaign like Mel Gibson did: Give advance screenings to local churches and other groups. Do what Gibson's production company did with the internet, setting up e-mail lists for news of the movie and encouraging fans to use e-mail to talk up the film...

But do studios really think that "The Passion of the Christ" struck such a nerve with the public because of some easily replicable marketing plan?

Err, yes. They do.

The movie is about...

golf.