Can Mel Gibson still draw a crowd?

A few months later, Gibson appeared on a few talk shows to promote his latest super-violent writing-directing effort, "Apocalypto," which opened that December to middling box office, raking in $51 million domestically.

Despite the disapprobation of certain Hollywood types, the effect of Gibson's Jew-baiting tirade and other shenanigans on average moviegoers is likely much less significant. Middle America, which helped push "Christ" to a $370 million domestic cume, likely has shrugged off lingering concerns about his bad behavior or the end of his marriage -- if they noted it at all. After all, isn't that what Hollywood celebrities do?

Which means those in the industry who might find Gibson's beliefs and/or behavior repugnant recognize he likely still can make them money with a loyal, if older, fan base.

One industry player noted that his middle-aged, born-again-Christian mother-in-law saw a TV trailer for "Darkness" and said: "I can't wait. I love Mel, and all my friends at the church love Mel."

Still, even with a coterie of committed followers, the real marketing challenge might be more Gibson's age than his antics.

"He's got as good a chance to be as successful as any older actor," one studio producer says. "With the same disadvantages. You look at the Pacinos and Hoffmans and Stallones and Willises -- not a lot of them are movie stars right now. But the guy has as good a chance as anyone, if the movie works, to still be a star."

While Gibson likely has no pressing need to step back in front of the camera, he perhaps recognizes that career longevity requires a campaign to re-humanize himself, to remind audiences of his talent and his familiarity.

Hollywood has obliged. The actor has, according to folks in his camp, been peppered with offers during the past two years: Roles in "The Book of Eli" (Warners), "The A-Team" (Fox), "Jonah Hex" (Warners), "The Low Dweller" (Relativity), "The 28th Amendment" (Warners), "Dan Mintner: Badass for Hire" (New Line), "By Any Means Necessary" (Paramount) and "The Men Who Stare at Goats" (Overture) were thrown in his path.

Among the major studios, Sony remains off the table -- for both parties -- but Warners, with which Gibson has a long working relationship (think "Lethal Weapon"), seems happy to produce and market a Mel Gibson movie.

Moving forward, Gibson's work agenda is packed. He's producing and starring in "How I Spent My Summer Vacation," an action drama that takes place in a Mexican prison, from a script he co-wrote. That screenplay is being rewritten in advance of the film's March production start.

William Monahan, who co-wrote "Darkness," is writing a Viking project for Gibson to direct and Leonardo DiCaprio to star in. And Gibson has told writer-director Shane Black that he'll star in "Cold Warrior" for him at Universal should the studio want to make a deal with the actor.

Shrewdly, Gibson is stepping back out to meet audiences in "Darkness," a relatively low-risk genre potboiler that's right in his wheelhouse. (He even did a version of it 14 years ago in "Ransom.") Another test will come with Summit Entertainment's "The Beaver," a low-budget project in which he'll play a depressed husband and father who begins communicating to, and through, a beaver puppet he wears on his hand.

He was far from an obvious choice to play a -- possibly crazy -- guy who requires a lot of audience sympathy. But at the suggestion of director Jodie Foster, a friend of Gibson's from back in the "Maverick" days, producer Anonymous Content eventually embraced the off-kilter casting choice.

"I thought it was completely unrealistic because this is really an art movie and pretty quirky," Anonymous Content's Steve Golin says. "Then the light bulb went off. With all the things that he's been through personally, it made a lot of sense. I definitely think that there were some parallels, and he thought that also. It's basically about a guy who's at his wit's end: He's got a difficult relationship with his family and his children, he's suffering from depression, and he's lost his way."

Such verisimilitude could be therapeutic and humanizing -- or an off-putting recipe for disaster. When we last saw Gibson the movie star, in M. Night Shyamalan's "Signs," he was a protective single father and fallen priest who regained faith after surviving a menacing brush with an alien. Now, after surviving a menacing brush with his inner demons, he needs to conjure similar magic at the box office.