The Gibson film opened in February 2004, nine months before the release of Christmas with the Kranks. And the success of this film was clearly embedded in people’s minds Ill Crew during filming. Curtis recalled in an interview that her first meeting with Tim Allen turned into a 20-minute conversation between him, director Joe Roth and screenwriter Chris Columbus about their “interpretations.” The Passion of Christ.

When Ill When the film came out later that year, it had a small problem: the film stank and the critics hated it. That’s what it currently has only 5 percent To Rotten tomatoes. But The Passion of Christ had already proven that good reviews aren’t necessary to make money at the box office. Apparently inspired by Gibson’s approach, the studio behind it Christmas with the Kranks started somethingT The New York Times noted was a “print campaign based almost entirely on the support of religious broadcasters and family representatives.”

Outlets like The Austin Chronicle called the film “Egregiously mediocre and blatantly ill-conceived in every way,” instead the ads quoted reviews from religious media organizations such as The 700 Club who proclaimed, “Tim Allen has never been funnier!” An instant family classic!”

For industry experts, this was pretty clear Ill tried to follow Passion of Christ‘s lucrative formula (without the flesh wounds and conspicuous anti-Semitism), a studio executive claimed that the Ill Quotation marks should not convey a religious message and state that “the values ​​of the film are Christian values. About the brotherhood of Christians and Jews.”

Of course, how could we not get that from the scene where Allen squirts Botox out of his face?

Meanwhile, Allen promoted the film by speaking to the Christian Broadcasting Network and telling them that Christmas is “really about the birth of Jesus.” And beyond that, there was another supporting character about Santa Claus. As you get older, you end up combining the two. I still think this is a dangerous situation.”

That’s certainly strange to hear from the same guy who made a movie where Santa saves Christmas by fighting a time-traveling Santa Claus.

Did the strategy work? So, Christmas with the Kranks outdated $90 million worldwide on a budget of $60 million. So it was a critical disaster but a minor box office success.

It probably would have been much better if they had gone with the role and crucified Allen’s character at the end.