Following the success of The Passion of the Christ, Monty Python's film The Life of Brian is to return to US cinemas next month to mark its 25th anniversary.

The Biblical satire will be re-released in Los Angeles, New York and other US cities. Gibson's portrayal of the last 12 hours in the life of Jesus, adverts will challenge Mel Gibson's blockbuster with the lines "Mel or Monty?", "The Passion or the Python?"

"We decided this is an important time to re-release this film, to provide some counter-programming to 'The Passion,'" Jaglom told Reuters. "I intend it, hopefully, to serve as an antidote to all the hysteria about Mel's movie."

"Life of Brian", stirred an uproar all its own 25 years ago, with some Christians condemning the film blasphemous. The film only got made when former Beatle George Harrison stepped in to finance the picture after EMI Films withdrew from the project, fearing that it was too controversial. All the surviving members of the Monty Python comedy team "all agreed this was a good time" to bring back the film and would help promote it.

The movie focused on the fictional Brian of Nazareth, a Jew who is born in the manger next-door to Jesus and grows up to join an anti-Roman separatist group called the Judean People's Front but ends up being mistaken for the Messiah. The film's creators have said it was meant as a spoof on Bible films and intolerance rather than Christianity.

Mr Jaglom, whose partner John Goldstone produced the original film, said trailers for the comedy would start to appear in cinemas on Good Friday.