A little controversy didn’t hurt as Mel Gibson’s "The Passion of the Christ" swept the competition last week at the box office. When the dust settled, Passion had pulled in $117.5 million domestically for the first five days of release, placing it firmly in first place. 

The film opened on Wednesday (Ash Wednesday) and pulled in $76.2 million from Friday to Sunday, placing it as the seventh highest three-day opening ever, and second best five day opening right behind this year’s big Oscar winner "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" , which brought in $124.1 million it’s first five days in theatres. 

Passion relegated last week’s number one, “50 First Dates”, to the number 2 spot. The real success of Passion comes when you consider it brought in more money than the rest of the Top 10 combined. 

Third place went to “Twisted”, the new thriller staring Samuel L Jackson, Ashley Judd and Andy Garcia, which pulled in $9.1 million over the weekend. “Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen” came in fourth and the top 5 was rounded out with the debut of the Dirty Dancing prequel "Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights".  

Box Office Top 10 (estimated)

1 - "The Passion of the Christ” - $76.2 million
2 - "50 First Dates” - $12.6 million
3 - "Twisted” - $9.1 million
4 - "Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen” - $6.1 million
5 - "Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights” - $5.9 million
6 - "Miracle” - $4.4 million
7 - "Eurotrip” - $4.1 million
8 - "Welcome to Mooseport” - $3.35 million
9 - "Barbershop 2: Back in Business” - $3.1 million
10 - "Broken Lizard's Club Dread” - $3 million
 

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