SUBMITTED BY Brandanday

March 22, 2004 — This weekend at the box office, "Dawn of the Dead" took in $27.3m, beating box-office champ "The Passion of the Christ", which grossed $19.2m.

Opening in 2,745 theaters, "Dawn of the Dead" averaged a healthy $9,945 a cinema. "Taking Lives" averaged $4,218 in 2,705 theaters, while "Eternal Sunshine" did $6,334 in 1,353 cinemas.

Remakes have a spotty box-office history, though horror updates such as last year's hit "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" tend to hold less risk because scary movies have a built-in audience.

"They are dicey," said Nikki Rocco, head of distribution for Universal, which released "Dawn of the Dead." "But I think the horror genre, that's a genre that's an audience pleaser. Clearly, everyone's going because they want to see the zombies."

Scary movies tend to drop steeply in subsequent weekends after hardcore horror fans have seen them. But "Dawn of the Dead" cost just $26 million to make, so surpassing its production budget with the opening weekend gross puts it on track to turn a solid profit.

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