'Passion' Plays

In case you haven’t heard, with a debut of biblical proportions, The Passion of the Christ easily took the top spot at the box office last weekend, earning $83.8 million. That total amounted to the sixth-highest three-day opening of all time. Among R-rated bows, the movie is in second place. Among independent-film premieres, it’s numero uno. And among Wednesday openers, it’s the best five-day premiere ever (a notch ahead of The Return of the King). All of which was great news for director Mel Gibson and star Jim Caviezel — and bad news for Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights, Twisted, and Broken Lizard’s Club Dread.

TOP 20 NUMBER WEEKEND WEEKS GROSS WEEKEND OF PER-SITE IN TO GROSS* SITES+ AVERAGE RELEASE DATE

1 THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST $83.8 3,043 $27,554 1 $125.2 2 50 FIRST DATES $12.6 3,450 $3,642 3 $88.7 3 TWISTED $8.9 2,703 $3,294 1 $8.9 4 CONFESSIONS OF A TEENAGE… $6.3 2,503 $2,536 2 $16.9 5 DIRTY DANCING: HAVANA NIGHTS $5.8 2,042 $2,846 1 $5.8 6 MIRACLE $4.5 2,222 $2,012 4 $56.3 7 EUROTRIP $4.1 2,544 $1,593 2 $12.8 8 WELCOME TO MOOSEPORT $3.3 2,868 $1,144 2 $11.5 9 BARBERSHOP 2 $3.1 1,524 $2,051 4 $57.6 10 BROKEN LIZARD’S CLUB DREAD $3.0 1,807 $1,680 1 $3.0 11 LOTR: THE RETURN OF THE KING $2.2 1,112 $1,956 11 $364.1 12 MYSTIC RIVER $2.1 1,125 $1,854 21 $82.2 13 MONSTER $2.0 968 $2,073 10 $26.8 14 COLD MOUNTAIN $1.3 1,113 $1,198 10 $92.7 15 AGAINST THE ROPES $1.3 1,601 $833 2 $5.1 16 THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT $1.3 1,035 $1,212 6 $55.4 17 YOU GOT SERVED $1.2 816 $1,503 5 $38.1 18 SOMETHING’S GOTTA GIVE $0.8 672 $1,207 12 $122.7 19 ALONG CAME POLLY $0.7 664 $1,040 7 $86.1 20 IN AMERICA $0.6 202 $2,545 14 $14.1

SOURCE: NIELSEN EDI. WEEKEND OF FEB. 27-FEB. 29 *WEEKEND-GROSS AND GROSS-TO-DATE FIGURES IN MILLIONS + INCLUDES SOME MULTISCREEN THEATERS AND PRINTS SHIPPED AS WELL AS INDIVIDUAL SCREENS

’70S TV REMAKES Top Grossers OPENING NUMBER DOMESTIC WEEKEND* OF SITE GROSSS

5/22/96 MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE $45.4 3,012 $181.0 6/14/02 SCOOBY-DOO $54.2 3,447 $153.3 6/20/03 THE HULK $62.1 3,660 $132.2 11/3/00 CHARLIE’S ANGELS $40.1 3,037 $125.3 8/8/03 S.W.A.T. $37.1 3,202 $116.6 6/26/87 DRAGNET $10.5 1,337 $57.6 2/17/95 THE BRADY BUNCH MOVIE $12.6 1,822 $46.6 10/15/93 THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES $9.5 2,152 $42.2 3/26/99 THE MOD SQUAD $6.1 2,290 $13.3 8/27/99 DUDLEY DO-RIGHT $3.0 1,802 $9.7

SOURCE: EXHIBITOR RELATIONS CO., INC. *OPENING-GROSS AND DOMESTIC-GROSS FIGURES IN MILLIONS