I'm soooooo going to watch this movie!!!

Any Christians out there? My best friend, Justin Kan (check my blog links at the right for his blog address), i arranging for some kind of Christian premiere for this movie!!!

Say something on my tagboard!!! Please! If you're interested k?


Passion Of The Christ tops US box office

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

The 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 Jesus Christ's crucifixion swelled
to blockbuster proportions as Gibson rallied
church groups to support it and accusations of
anti-Semitism brought mainstream attention.

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
Jesus, and Maia Morgenstern, a Jewish actress who
plays Mary -- said Gibson approached the film
with great respect for Judaic traditions.

The Passion took in more money than the rest of
the top 12 films 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 theatres, 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 ancient 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 president of
box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations Paul
Dergarabedian. 'Even non-believers 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.' -- AP