TOP 10: THE PASSION holds strong again

By: Patrick Sauriol
Date: Monday, March 15, 2004

THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST continues to dominate the box office. This past weekend Mel Gibson's blockbuster fell 40% from last weekend's $51 M take, pushing the film past the $250 M watershed mark. Studio estimates are now targeting Gibson's movie with a final domestic gross somewhere between $350 M to $400 M. When all's said and done, PASSION will be in the top ten highest grossing films of all time.

Sony's SECRET WINDOW came in second with a respectable $19 M in ticket sales. Last week's second place finisher, STARSKY & HUTCH, dropped to third overall this week.

AGENT CODY BANKS 2 didn't open as strong as the first film, taking in just $8 M as opposed to the first film's $14 M opening last year. Director David Mamet's newcomer SPARTAN took tenth spot with just a hair above $2 M.

Next week: can the zombies from DAWN OF THE DEAD defeat Jesus Christ's hold on the box office?

Here are the estimated box office receipts of the top ten films from March 12 through to March 14, with their weekend gross and the movie's total domestic gross to date:

1. THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST $31,661,000 $264,041,000
2. SECRET WINDOW $19,000,000 $19,000,000
3. STARSKY & HUTCH $16,010,000 $51,493,000
4. HIDALGO $11,700,000 $35,500,000
5. AGENT CODY BANKS 2 $8,000,000 $8,000,000
6. 50 FIRST DATES $5,300,000 $106,576,000

7. TWISTED $3,075,000 $21,128,000
8. CONFESSIONS OF A TEENAGE DRAMA QUEEN $2,400,000 $24,900,000
9. THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING $2,050,000 $371,176,000
10. SPARTAN $2,030,000 $2,030,000


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