Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" attracted large audiences during Holy Week, which culminated in Easter Sunday and a return of the blockbuster crucifixion saga to the top spot on the box-office chart, according to studio estimates.
The film, which opened on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 25, has made $354.8 million to date, passing "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" for the No. 8 spot on the all-time domestic charts, just behind "Jurassic Park," the Associated Press reports.
While "The Passion" maintained the No. 1 spot on the weekend money charts for its first three weekends, it had slipped on the list during the following three weeks, until this weekend.
Meanwhile, Disney's $100-million epic "The Alamo" hasn't a prayer, having opened to indifferent reviews and relatively poor business last Friday and tying for No. 3 with Cedric the Entertainer's comedy "Johnson Family Vacation" -- though when final numbers are tallied on Monday, "The Alamo" could land at No. 4.
"We're disappointed, mostly because we think we made a really good film," Chuck Viane, Disney's head of distribution, tells AP. "I'm shocked, quite honestly, at the number. If I could only figure out what went wrong, you'd never let it happen again. The movie deserved better than it did."
After "The Passion of the Christ," the No. 2 movie was "Hellboy."
The weekend's Top 10 movies, according to studio estimates, were as follows:
1. "The Passion of the Christ," $17.1 million
2. "Hellboy," $11.1 million
3 (tie). "The Alamo," $9.2 million
3 (tie). "Johnson Family Vacation," $9.2 million
5. "Walking Tall," $8.3 million
6. "Home on the Range," $8.2 million
7. "Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed," $8 million
8. "The Whole Ten Yards," $6.7 million
9. "Ella Enchanted," $6.1 million
10. "The Girl Next Door," $6 million
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