'Passion' casts out 'Hellboy'

‘Passion’ casts out ‘Hellboy’

By R. Kinsey Lowe

April 12, 2004 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

In its seventh weekend, “The Passion of the Christ” knocked “Hellboy” out of the top spot at the box office, in the process besting a wide variety of different kinds of films that opened over the Easter holiday period.

With distributor Newmarket estimating a three-day take of $17.1 million, “The Passion” fulfilled prophecies of a surge in Easter business, beginning when the film reclaimed the No.1 position in daily grosses Wednesday.

While some of the 61% increase over last weekend for “The Passion of the Christ” could be attributed to church groups, Bob Berney of distributor Newmarket Films said he thought a significant chunk was due to individuals who were just getting around to seeing the film, possibly motivated by the Easter-related theme, and repeat business among the Latino community in particular.

Whatever the case, the film has now taken in about $355 million domestically, and Berney was confident the U.S. total would reach $400 million. It has accumulated about $125 million in foreign revenues.

“The Passion” is the first film since 1996’s “Jerry Maguire” to reclaim No. 1 at the box office after three or more weeks out of the top spot, said Dan Marks of box-office tracking firm Nielsen EDI. The Tom Cruise-Cameron Crowe collaboration opened at No. 1 in mid-December 1996 with $5.5 million and then returned to the top spot in its sixth and eighth weekends, according to Boxofficemojo.com.

Easter is not typically a strong weekend for moviegoing, and Marks said this year’s was the second best with an estimated $115 million for all films in release.

The record Easter weekend total was $132 million for March 29-31, 2002, he said, which was led by the $30.1 million opening for “Panic Room.”

Among five new major releases, moviegoers had a diverse selection -- the historical western “The Alamo,” the family comedy “Johnson Family Vacation,” “Ella Enchanted” for teenage girls, “The Girl Next Door” for young and teen males, and the Bruce Willis-Matthew Perry mismatched-buddy comedy sequel “The Whole Ten Yards.”

Disney’s closely watched “The Alamo” tied with “Johnson Family Vacation” for third place with $9.2 million. While that number represents a disappointment for Disney on the expensive “Alamo,” Fox Searchlight distribution president Steve Gilula was tickled with that figure for “Johnson Family Vacation.”

Gilula, who said “Vacation” cost about $12 million to make, pointed out the $11.6 million gross since it opened Wednesday makes it the weekend’s highest-grossing new film. He also boasted that “Vacation” posted the biggest increase in business Friday to Saturday and the highest per-theater average ($6,985) among the top 10 films.

With a cast led by Cedric the Entertainer, Vanessa Williams, Bow Wow, Steve Harvey and Solange Knowles, the film attracted an audience that was mostly African American, slightly more female than male but evenly divided between people over and under 25, Gilula said.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Box Office

Preliminary results based on studio projections.

*--* Movie 3-day gross Total (millions)

*--*

*--* The Passion of the Christ $17.1 $354.9

Hellboy $11.1 $41.1

Johnson Family Vacation $9.2 $11.6

The Alamo $9.2 $9.2

Walking Tall $8.3 $28.8

Home on the Range $8.2 $27.5

Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed $8 $62.9