'Passion' Rings $23.6M on Opening Day (26.6 including Monday and Tuesday)

AP ^ | Thursday, February 26, 2004; 2:10 PM | DAVID GERMAIN

[Pete]

LOS ANGELES - Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" took in $23.6 million on opening day, positioning it as the biggest religious-themed movie since "The Ten Commandments" and "Ben-Hur." The film also took in an estimated $3 million in private screenings for church groups Monday and Tuesday in advance of the official opening Wednesday. The $26.6 million U.S. and Canada total released Thursday was well above distributor Newmarket Film's preliminary estimate of $15 million to $20 million a day earlier. "We wanted to be a little strategically conservative," said Rob Schwartz, head of distribution for Newmarket, which Gibson hired after no Hollywood studio would handle the film because of its divisive subject matter.

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[Hodar]

Gosh ... I think I'd better wait until I hear from Meryl Streep, Sarah Jessica Parker,Tim Robbins and crew before I go. < /sarcasm>

My wife and I will be in line, eagerly awaiting our chance to give Mel some of our hard earned cash.

[Quilla]

I would like to know the average number of theaters movies generally open in as well as an average first day take. Anyone out there know?

[eureka!]

Dunno. But there was an AP piece yesterday that tried to rain on Mel's parade by saying "...far less than the $38 million for Spiderman" (which was promo'd and on a weekend.) Bottomline: Passion will be incredibly successful...

[Pikamax]

http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040226/APE/402260875


'Passion' Rings $23.6M on Opening Day

By DAVID GERMAIN
AP Movie Writer
February 26, 2004

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Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" took in $23.6 million on opening day, positioning it as the biggest religious-themed movie since "The Ten Commandments" and "Ben-Hur."

The film also took in an estimated $3 million in private screenings for church groups Monday and Tuesday in advance of the official opening Wednesday.

The $26.6 million U.S. and Canada total released Thursday was well above distributor Newmarket Film's preliminary estimate of $15 million to $20 million a day earlier.

"We wanted to be a little strategically conservative," said Rob Schwartz, head of distribution for Newmarket, which Gibson hired after no Hollywood studio would handle the film because of its divisive subject matter. "Prior to the opening, I don't think we could have counted on a $26 (million) to $27 million opening, but we'll take it."

The movie is well on its way to the $100 million mark, Schwartz said. The 1959 Roman-Christian epic "Ben-Hur" grossed an estimated $74 million, while 1956's "The Ten Commandments" took in about $65.5 million, according to box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations.

In today's dollars, "Ben-Hur" and "The Ten Commandments" likely would be $300 million blockbusters.

The 1998 animated tale of Moses "The Prince of Egypt" took in $14.5 million over its first three days on its way to a $101.3 million total. Based on its opening-day numbers, "The Passion" should easily surpass that.

"The Passion" fell far short of the single-day record of $43.6 million held by "Spider-Man," but Gibson's film already has passed the receipts of other modern religious films over their entire runs, among them "The Last Temptation of Christ" ($8.4 million), "The Omega Code" ($12.5 million) and "Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie" ($25.6 million).

"The Passion" opened on 4,643 screens in 3,006 theaters.

Gibson put up the film's $25 million budget out of his own pocket. After theater owners take their cut, about half of the box office take will come back to Gibson, who then pays Newmarket a percentage fee for distribution.

The film, starring Jim Caviezel as Jesus, is a bloody depiction of Christ's final hours and crucifixion.

The movie's box-office prospects benefited from months of debate as Gibson built support by screening it for church groups and excluding potential critics, while some Christian and Jewish leaders complained that it could fuel anti-Semitism by implying Jews were collectively responsible for Christ's death.

[over3Owithabrain]

In today's dollars, "Ben-Hur" and "The Ten Commandments" likely would be $300 million blockbusters.

Yet Hollywood shuns such flicks. Hmmmm...

[yle1138]

Actually, this article is wrong. Go to Boxoffice Mojo, early reports are $26.8 WITHOUT the Mon & Tues screenings factored in. The film may pass $30 million if those numbers are added to the figure.

They plan to have final numbers later today.

www.boxofficemojo.com

BTW, Brandon Gray will be on O'Reily tonight to discuss TPOTC's box office numbers.

Yancy

[2banana]

"The Passion" fell far short of the single-day record of $43.6 million held by "Spider-Man," but Gibson's film already has passed the receipts of other modern religious films over their entire runs, among them "The Last Temptation of Christ" ($8.4 million),

This one line made my day...

[GailA]

Comparing The Passion opening to a Spidey opening is dumb and entirely misleading. Spidey was NOT RATED R, and was opened in ALL US theaters. Not just a select few. Thus more kids went. Many parents of younger children would probably elect NOT to let their children see The Passion given the hype on the 'violence'. DUH!

[js1138]

I've spent more time on rottentomatoes.com reading movie reviews than I have watching movies. I have to say that I have never seen so many stupid and uninformed reviews in one place as there are concerning this film. Seething behind almost every review is a political agenda. I suspect that many reviewers have not even seen the film, even if they were in the theater when it was being shown.

[Quilla]

Thank you. Although I haven't seen any numbers for comparison, I have a feeling that 3006 theaters is low. Our local theater's seven o'clock showing is sold out for the next two and half weeks..

[Pete]

I have been following box office mojo today. It looked like to me that their figure was their estimate while I was assuming that the figure in the AP article was the actual number that has been released. I could be wrong.

[commish]

YEp BOx office Mojo now has Passion at $26,556,573

CONGRATS MEL!!! YOU HAVE A MEGAHIT!

Now a little Math : PAssion opened at 3006 theaters and 4600 screens. Spiderman opened on a FRIDAY at 3700 theaters on 7500 screens.

$26,000,000 / 4600 = $5652 per screen on a WED

$43,000,000 / 7500 = $5733 per screen on a FRIDAY!

IOW, PASSION OF THE CHRIST took in the same PER SCREEN amount as Spiderman, and it did it on a week day!

[Agnes Heep]

A house of merchandise indeed.

[walden]

So, yesterday Spiderman did $38 million first day, and today it's $44 million first day-- when I did accounting we didn't have more than one revenue figure for the same project. ;)

Methinks these people pull these numbers out of their butts.

[yle1138]

Box Office Mojo gets their numbers from multiple box office tracking companies used in the entertainment industry. Usually their numbers are pretty accurate.

Yancy

[Zack Nguyen]

$23,600,000 first day take, divided by 4643 screens = $5082.92 average take per screen.

[Texas2step]

#9 All-Time Opening Day.
#3 All-Time Opening Day for a Wednesday.
#1 All-Time Opening Day for a Wed. outside of summer/holiday

From BoxOfficeMojo: In just one day, The Passion has become the highest-grossing Christian-themed movie of recent memory.

Sweet!

[Quilla]

Thank you - pretty incredible.

[theFIRMbss]

>LOS ANGELES - Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" took in $23.6 million on opening day . . .

You know, way back when,
during Christ's time, Greek drama
was still the big thing.

Romans and people
who wanted to seem Roman
built their culture life

on attending and
knowing about Greek drama.
Yet the Gospels are

oddly silent on
Jesus sitting down to write
His Message in plays

the mass medium
of His era would perform.
Paul wrote letters, but

I don't recall Paul
ever writing -- or asking
Timothy or Luke

to write -- any plays...
The Holy Spirit can speak
direct to our hearts.

What the hell would God
care about a bizarre film
that puts His Good News

on par with things like
"Reservoir Dogs" or "Star Wars"
or "On Golden Pond" . . .