Lionsgate Bumps Gibson's Biblical Epic, Hands May Slot to Johnny Depp's Day Drinker
Mel Gibson's The Resurrection of the Christ has been delayed, and Day Drinker — a cruise-ship thriller starring Johnny Depp and Penélope Cruz — is taking the vacated May 2025 release date. Here's what both films are, where they'll land, and why this scheduling move actually makes sense.
Three years after Top Gun: Maverick exploded into a $1.49 billion phenomenon following its own date shuffle, Lionsgate has made a similarly bold call. But this one has different stakes entirely.
The studio confirmed that Day Drinker will open in May 2025 — a premium theatrical window that screams confidence. Meanwhile, The Resurrection of the Christ, Mel Gibson's two-part biblical epic, has been pulled from that same slot and pushed to a later date Lionsgate hasn't announced yet. Two films. One calendar shuffle. Very different career moments for both.
What Actually Got Rescheduled (And Why It Matters)
Let's lock in the specifics, because coverage has been scattered.
Day Drinker is now a May 2025 theatrical release. That's the slot Gibson originally held — exactly the kind of premium berth studios reserve for projects they genuinely believe in. The film opens in cinemas before migrating to OTT sometime later (more on that below).
The Resurrection of the Christ is pushed to a date TBA. Gibson hasn't rushed this project — he's spent years developing it — and a delay reads less like panic and more like a studio deciding the film needs finishing time rather than a calendar deadline.
Here's what we know about Day Drinker:
- Director: Marc Webb (500 Days of Summer, The Amazing Spider-Man)
- Cast: Johnny Depp, Penélope Cruz
- Plot: A cruise ship bartender encounters a mysterious day drinker, and both get pulled into a criminal underworld in ways neither anticipated
- Studio: Lionsgate
- Release: May 2025 (theatrical)
The premise is more interesting than the title suggests. A contained thriller set on a ship with two magnetic leads and a director known for character work — that's the film nobody's actually talking about yet, and they should be.
Where Day Drinker and The Resurrection Land for Indian Viewers
Both films carry real weight for audiences in India, and the streaming question matters as much as theatrical.
Day Drinker doesn't yet have a confirmed Indian OTT home, but Lionsgate's existing distribution relationships in the region suggest the most likely landing spot is Lionsgate Play (available as an add-on via Amazon Prime Video in India) or Amazon Prime Video directly, depending on deal structure. Movie OTT's where-to-watch tracker surfaces confirmed Indian streaming availability the moment deals are locked, so that's the place to check once the announcement comes.
Depp retains a genuine fanbase in India — Pirates of the Caribbean built loyalty that the trial years didn't entirely erase, especially among audiences aged 25–40. A slick Lionsgate thriller with Penélope Cruz as co-lead is exactly the kind of film that finds a second, larger audience on streaming after theatrical.
For The Resurrection of the Christ, the Indian Christian audience is a real consideration. The original Passion of the Christ (2004) released here with both English and dubbed versions, performing meaningfully in Kerala, Goa, and Tamil Nadu where Christian communities turned out. Lionsgate and Gibson would be smart to lock Hindi, Tamil, and Malayalam dubs for the sequel — not an afterthought, but a genuine release strategy. Regional language tracks could actually move the needle here. No confirmation yet on that front.
Marc Webb's Return to Character-Driven Filmmaking
Here's the thing nobody mentions: this is Marc Webb's most interesting project in over a decade.
Webb directed 500 Days of Summer (2009) for $7.5 million and watched it earn $60.7 million worldwide — an 8x return on budget that most studio tentpoles can't touch. That film launched a decade of indie-inflected studio work. His Spider-Man films were commercially fine but creatively constrained by franchise machinery. A contained thriller — no IP, no universe obligations, just character chemistry and a mystery — feels like a genuine return to what Webb does best.
The guy is a precision instrument when he's working with actors on intimate material. Two leads trapped on a ship. A criminal underworld that unfolds in conversation as much as plot. That's Webb's wheelhouse, and it's been years since he's had a project that fits.
Penélope Cruz brings credibility and unpredictability — she doesn't make safe choices. Johnny Depp, meanwhile, hasn't carried a major theatrical release since Minamata (2020), which was critically solid but barely distributed. Most outlets are framing Day Drinker as Depp's "comeback vehicle," but that framing misses the point: this is really a test of whether Lionsgate can build a mid-budget original thriller into an event without franchise scaffolding, and in 2025, that's the harder trick. Not a cameo. Not a supporting role. A Lionsgate wide release with his name above the title.
Why Gibson's Delay Is a Smart Move (Not a Red Flag)
The conventional read: Lionsgate blinked on the Gibson film.
The smarter read: they made a portfolio decision that protects both projects.
Gibson's Passion of the Christ (2004) earned $611.9 million worldwide against a $30 million budget — one of the most profitable independent productions in cinema history. The pressure to deliver something worthy of that legacy is genuinely massive. Gibson has said the sequel is "a huge undertaking" with scope and ambition beyond the original. You don't rush that out because of a calendar slot.
Putting The Resurrection of the Christ in May against the weight of expectation — and the risk of it being unfinished — would've been the riskier call. Lionsgate is in an interesting position right now: not a mega-studio, not an indie, but a mid-tier player that wins by picking spots carefully. Letting Day Drinker anchor May while giving Gibson's epic the time it needs is the kind of thinking that turns a decent year into a genuinely good one.
The Box Office Comparison That Actually Matters
When a film gets rescheduled, the question is always: does it hurt?
Recent history says no — if the film is worth waiting for.
| Film | Year | What Happened | Result | |---|---|---|---| | Top Gun: Maverick | 2022 | Delayed, then rescheduled | $1.49B worldwide | | Minamata (Depp) | 2020 | Limited distribution issues | Critical success, minimal box office | | The Passion of the Christ | 2004 | Self-distributed, resisted by studios | $611.9M worldwide, cultural landmark |
The pattern: date changes don't doom films. What matters is whether the product is ready and the marketing is honest about what you're getting.
What to Watch for in the Next 60 Days
Three things will tell us whether these films are positioned correctly.
For Day Drinker: the first full trailer will arrive before May. If it leans into the cruise-ship setting and shows the Depp-Cruz dynamic (the two shared crackling energy in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, so the pairing isn't untested), the film has a strong shot at overperforming projections. If it's vague for the sake of mystery — that's a marketing problem. I keep coming back to the fact that Marc Webb's involved here, and nobody's talking about it. That's either intentional understatement or a missed opportunity.
For The Resurrection of the Christ: watch for a new release date announcement. A late 2025 slot suggests production is in good shape. A 2026 placeholder suggests more significant work ahead. Either way, the audience for this film is patient — they've been waiting since 2004.
For both films: Movie OTT will track where-to-watch information as streaming deals get announced, including Indian availability. That's where the OTT picture becomes clear.
Where Things Stand Right Now
Day Drinker: May 2025 theatrical release. Confirmed.
The Resurrection of the Christ: Delayed. New date TBA.
Streaming locations for both: Not yet announced. Indian OTT homes will likely be Lionsgate Play or Amazon Prime Video for Day Drinker, though nothing's locked. For Gibson's film, expect a traditional theatrical-to-streaming window once a release date is set.
The part I'm most curious about is whether Day Drinker actually delivers on the contained character thriller it's being positioned as, or whether it expands into something messier. Webb at his best is precise. Let's see if that holds.
