In 2004, Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ – which depicted the last days in the life of Jesus – provoked debate, adulation among many, revulsion from some – and a wholescale shift in the film industry.

The enormous box-office response to the film, which earned $612m worldwide from a $30m budget, ushered in a new wave of faith films that is still being surfed by many producers conscious of a hitherto untapped audience who attend screenings en masse and repeatedly.

Twelve years on, screenwriter Randall Wallace has confirmed he and Gibson are at work on a follow-up, which will address Christ’s resurrection. The topic was a specialism of Wallace when he studied religion at Duke University, he told the Hollywood Reporter, saying: “I always wanted to tell this story. The Passion is the beginning and there’s a lot more story to tell.”

He added: “The evangelical community considers The Passion the biggest movie ever out of Hollywood, and they kept telling us that they think a sequel will be even bigger.”

Gibson most recently discussed the concept of a project last month following an advance preview of Hacksaw Ridge, his and Wallace’s biopic of a highly decorated medic, also a Christian conscientious objector, in the second world war.

No casting details – in particular whether Jim Caviezel might return in the title role – have not yet been released.

Wallace was Oscar-nominated for his script for Braveheart (1995), his first collaboration with Gibson. He also wrote The Man in the Iron Mask, Pearl Harbor, We Were Soldiers (which starred Gibson) and 2014’s Heaven Is for Real, one of the better received recent faith films, which took $101m worldwide.

The most recent resurrection film was Risen, which told the story through the eyes of a Roman soldier, played by Joseph Fiennes. It made $46m globally. Currently in the charts is Jennifer Garner/Queen Latifer faith film Miracles from Heaven, which has already made $73m and opens in the UK on 10 June.