Disney sets Gibson film campaign launch

BURBANK, Calif., Nov. 22 (UPI) -- The Walt Disney Co. is set to launch an aggressive marketing and promotion campaign for "Apocalypto," the new project by troubled filmmaker Mel Gibson.

With the "Lethal Weapon" star's controversial anti-Semitic comments still resonating in the film community, Disney will try to focus the public's attention on the film with an hourlong ABC special set to air Thursday night, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Walt Disney Studios Chairman Dick Cook said that between the holiday special and a similar broadcast airing on Univision Nov. 30, he believes moviegoers will look past Gibson's shocking behavior to the quality of the film.

"The public is smart enough to differentiate what happens in someone's personal life and their professional life," he said. "And, while we knew the marketing mountains we'd have to go up, you realize the movie is in the hands of someone who has conquered all these obstacles before and succeeded in an extraordinary way."

Cook was referring to Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ," which came into the marketplace amid controversy and went on to gross more than $370 million at the U.S. box office in 2004.