Mel Gibson's 'The Resurrection of the Christ,' the follow-up to 'The Passion of the Christ,' will be released domestically by Lionsgate.

The deal continues Gibson’s long association with Lionsgate, where he made his two most recent films: the Oscar-nominated war movie Hacksaw Ridge and the thriller Flight Risk, starring Mark Wahlberg and released earlier this year. The studio is also the distributor for the Icon library, including The Passion of the Christ.

Mel Gibson has found a studio partner for The Resurrection of the Christ, the long awaited follow-up to the 2004 smash hit The Passion of the Christ. Lionsgate will join Gibson and Brucey Davey’s Icon Productions to mount the sequel to the movie which long held the mark as the biggest domestic grossing R-rated film