'The Passion' Tops Box Office Again, Passes Two Towers
Mel Gibson's controversial religious-themed 'The Passion of the Christ' won back the top spot at the North American box office over the Easter weekend, according to early figures.(AFP/Francois Guillot)
LOS ANGELES — Many Christians made "The Passion of the Christ (search)" a part of their Easter weekend, lifting the crucifixion saga back to the top box-office spot with $17.1 million.
Mel Gibson's (search) bloody retelling of Christ's final hours raised its domestic total since opening on Ash Wednesday to $354.8 million, 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 Passion" had been No. 1 its first three weekends, then fell back in the pack for the next three before claiming the top spot again.
"That's unprecedented. I've never seen that before. 'The Passion' is just rewriting box-office history," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations (search). "This is a holy day, and this movie is tailor-made for a weekend like this. It's not just a movie. It's a religious...