‘The Passion’ powers to $125.2 million

With $125.2 million since it opened Wednesday, Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ” continues to defy conventional predictions, with Sunday figures coming in nearly $8 million higher than Newmarket Films originally estimated. “The Passion” is a moviegoing phenomenon that confounds the regular formulas distributors use to estimate weekend totals. The movie brought in $83.8 million Friday through Sunday (vs. a preliminary estimate of $76.2 million), a February record. “The Passion” grosses for Saturday were more than 44% higher than Friday, based on figures posted on BoxOfficeMojo.com, and Sunday business was more than 21% higher than Friday, which is extremely rare if not unique.

Source: Nielsen EDI

*--* Movie 3-day Total Venues Average Weeks (Studio) Gross (Millions) Per Venue 1 The Passion of the $83.8 $125.2 3,043 $27,554 1 Christ (Newmarket) 2 50 First Dates (Sony) $12.6 $88.7 3,450 $3,642 3 3 Twisted (Paramount) $8.9 $8.9 2,703 $3,294 1 4 Confessions of a $6.3 $16.9 2,503 $2,536 2 Teenage Drama Queen Buena Vista) 5 Dirty Dancing: Havana $5.8 $5.8 2,042 $2,846 1 Nights (Lions Gate) 6 Miracle (Buena Vista) $4.5 $56.3 2,222 $2,012 4 7 Eurotrip (DreamWorks) $4.1 $12.8 2,544 $1,593 2 8 Welcome to Mooseport $3.3 $11.5 2,868 $1,144 2 (Fox) 9 Barbershop 2: Back in $3.1 $57.6 1,524 $2,051 4 Business (MGM) 10 Broken Lizard’s Club $3.0 $3.0 1,807 $1,680 1 Dread (Fox Searchlight)

*--*