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I just got this in an e-mail

'Passion' hauls in $117.5M in five days

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Mel Gibson's gamble on The Passion of the Christ paid off enormously, riding a storm of religious debate to a $117.5 million haul in its first five days, according to studio estimates Sunday.

A day after The Passion of the Christ is released, Mel Gibson visits Jay Leno. Passion earned $26.3M that first day. By Kevin Winter, Getty ImagesThe Passion, which debuted on Ash Wednesday, rocketed to the No. 1 box-office slot for the weekend with $76.2 million from Friday to Sunday. It was the seventh-best three-day opening ever, behind Spider-Man at $114.8 million and such Hollywood franchises as The Matrix Reloaded and the first two Harry Potter movies.

The Passion put up the second-best five-day figures for a movie opening on Wednesday, behind last year's The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King at $124.1 million and ahead of Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace at $105.6 million.

The first movie released in 2004 to cross the $100 million mark, The Passion easily passed the weekend's No. 2 flick, 50 First Dates at $88.7 million, as the year's top-grossing film.

Once considered a niche film that would appeal mainly to conservative Christians, the bloody chronicle of Christ's crucifixion swelled to blockbuster proportions as Gibson rallied church groups to support it and accusations of anti-Semitism brought mainstream attention.

"It's an event movie," said Bruce Davey, Gibson's partner in his film company Icon Productions. "It all began with the grass-roots campaign we started, but the controversy has obviously helped in creating awareness."
Some Jewish and Christian leaders have said they fear The Passion will revive the notion that Jews collectively were responsible for Christ's death.

Gibson has denied such accusations, and key cast members - including Jim Caviezel, who plays Christ, and Maia Morgenstern, a Jewish actress who plays Mary - said Gibson approached the film with great respect for Judaic traditions.

Gibson put up the movie's $25 million budget and will reap most of the returns. Hollywood studios passed on the movie, so Gibson put it in theaters through independent distributor Newmarket Films, which will get a cut of Gibson's profits.

The Passion provided a box-office jolt for theaters, whose ticket sales were running 7% behind last year's. After four straight weekends of declining revenue, the top 12 movies took in $132.1 million, up 53% from the same weekend a year ago.

The Passion took in more money than the rest of the top 12 combined, with other new movies making barely a ripple.
The Ashley Judd crime thriller Twisted debuted at No. 3 with $9.1 million from Friday to Sunday. Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights, a prequel to the 1980s hit, opened in fifth place with $5.9 million. The horror spoof Broken Lizard's Club Dread premiered at No. 10 with $3 million.

Playing in 3,043 theaters, The Passion averaged a whopping $25,041, compared to $3,367 in 2,703 cinemas for Twisted.
The success of The Passion is more remarkable considering it was shot in two dead languages, Aramaic and Latin, and plays with English subtitles. The movie's violence, including a savage depiction of Christ's scourging and crucifixion, also did not deter movie-goers, who lifted The Passion to the second-best R-rated opening ever behind The Matrix Reloaded at $91.8 million for its first weekend.
"The Passion is the most unlikely blockbuster I've ever seen. I don't have enough adjectives in my repertoire to describe it," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations. "Even nonbelievers probably felt the need to see this film because it's undeniably about one of the most important events in history, and everybody is talking about it."

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at North American theaters, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. Final figures will be released Monday.

1. The Passion of the Christ, $76.2 million.
2. 50 First Dates, $12.6 million.
3. Twisted, $9.1 million.
4. Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen, $6.1 million.
5. Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights, $5.9 million.
6. Miracle, $4.4 million.
7. Eurotrip, $4.1 million.
8. Welcome to Mooseport, $3.35 million.
9. Barbershop 2: Back in Business, $3.1 million.
10. Broken Lizard's Club Dread, $3 million.

That $76 million number was an estimate of the weekend figures. The actual numbers are now in and it is much higher. I thought it would be, because I have never seen movie lines like the ones we had in Miami. The theaters were packed and everyone was in line to see The Passion.

Once considered a niche film that would appeal mainly to conservative Christians...

Maybe there are more "Conservative Christians" than they thought?

"Hollywood studios passed on the movie, so Gibson put it in theaters through independent distributor Newmarket Films, which will get a cut of Gibson's profits."

Ah ... no wonder Hollywood is sooo pissed at ole Mel.

After four straight weekends of declining revenue, the top 12 movies took in $132.1 million, up 53% from the same weekend a year ago.

So many people are being turned away from sold-out Passion performances, they're buying tickets for their second choices.