The "Passion" of the Pirates

Mel Gibson is passionate about clamping down on piracy.

The Lethal Weapon star's company, Icon Productions, has filed a federal lawsuit against a Hollywood post-production facility after three of its employees were charged with making illegal copies of The Passion of the Christ, months before his controversial religious blockbuster hit theaters.

So much for turning the other cheek.

The lawsuit, filed Thursday in Los Angeles against Lightning Media, contends that the company failed to provide ample security by allowing employees Richard Young, 42, Victor Ochoa, 31, and Frank Pelayo Jr., 23, to make off bootlegs of The Passion. The illicit copies subsequently found their way onto the Internet and the black market.

Icon is seeking $150,000 in damages and an order from a judge prohibiting Lightning Media and its workers from copying and distributing the movie.

"The issue of piracy has been plaguing the industry for several years, and as a result facilities such as ours have had to tighten security measures," said Icon CEO Steve Buchsbaum, according to Los Angeles' City News Service. "No one is immune from this type of situation."

After being busted by federal officials last month and charged with misdemeanor counts of copyright infringement, the trio was immediately fired by Lightning Media. The feds were tipped off after a three-minute clip of The Passion began playing on the Web and the New York Post printed a review based on a pre-release copy.

The flick also popped up for sale on Santa Monica's popular Third Street Promenade alongside a dupe of Kill Bill: Vol. 1. FBI officials were able to determine they came from Lightning Media.

Lightning Media has released a statement saying it had no idea that piracy was going on and that the company was fully cooperating with government investigators. Prosecutors never charged the company with anything, saying there was no evidence of wrongdoing.

Each of the men face up to one year in prison as well as a fine if convicted. Calls to Lightning Media and Icon were not returned Friday.

But that's not the only piracy problem plaguing Gibson and his producers.

During a routine traffic stop, police in Somerset, Pennsylvania, turned up cache of bootlegged material in the possession of a 30-year-old Philadelphia man, including more than 1,500 illegal CDs, DVDs, VHS tapes and several dozen copies of The Passion of the Christ.

The pirate, whose identity has not been disclosed pending the filing of charges, was pulled over on Tuesday morning for tailgating and flashing his high beams. After searching his car, police found a trace amount of marijuana and the bootlegged tapes, including copies of such current releases as Starsky & Hutch, Twisted and Monster.

The man, who was en route to Pittsburgh to unload the bootlegs, which he bought in New York for $5,000, was remanded to a local jail where he's currently being held on an outstanding warrant for drug possession.

All told the stash reportedly had a street value of $300,000.

Not that the piracy is actually hurting ticket sales. Released on Feb. 25, The Passion of the Christ has grossed a record-setting $160.6 million through Thursday. It could hit the $200 million mark by the end of the weekend.

Meanwhile, the film's instrumental soundtrack sold more than 48,777 copies last week, according to Nielsen SoundScan, one of the strongest debuts in that genre since the release of the soundtrack to Star Wars: The Attack of the Clones. The Passion disc entered Billboard's album charts at number 19, while topping the Soundtrack and Contemporary Christian charts.

Sales have been so strong that a second album, Songs Inspired by The Passion of the Christ, has been slated for release by Universal South Records on April 6. The compilation, billed as a musical homage to Jesus, culls tracks by Bob Dylan, Elvis Presley, Leonard Cohen, Waylon Jennings and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, among others.