SUBMITTED BY Timbo

March 15, 2004 — "The Passion of the Christ" continued to dominate the box office this past weekend, grossing $32.1 million. Its tally now stands at $264.5 million.

Adding 51 screens, The Passion of the Christ, R rated for its violence, dominated in 3,211 theaters, where it averaged $9,975 per site as the choice of 31 percent of the audience buying tickets Friday through Sunday.

Mel Gibson's tough-love rendition of Jesus' fate has had a miraculous run since its record setting opening on Ash Wednesday and has helped boost overall box-office figures for this time of year. It's expected to keep the turnstiles flipping through Easter, not just on the strength of prior bookings by the faithful, but also because of is broad appeal.

Newmarket, the company distributing the film, predicts The Passion will ultimately gross between $350 million and $400 million in North America, which will push it into the same league as the PG-13 Oscar-winning fantasy The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. The latter has now earned $371.1 million in 13 weeks of domestic release.

When overseas and video receipts are eventually tallied, Gibson, who shelled out around $25 million of his own money to make The Passion, stands to net at least $350 million himself for the film.

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