"pyjamarama" wrote in message
om
'Passion' rising toward box-office history

BY CARRIE RICKEY
Miami Herald Movie Critic

The Passion of the Christ, the movie personally financed by Mel Gibson
because no studio thought it commercially viable, could become the
highest-grossing film in history.

By the end of business Sunday, the subtitled story of Jesus' final
hours had grossed $264.5 million in the United States and Canada. The
film opened Feb. 25.

"If The Passion continues on this trajectory, it's possible for it to
surpass Star Wars [$461 million] and even Titanic [$600.8 million] as
the domestic box-office champion of all time," said Paul Dergarabedian
of Exhibitor Relations Inc., which tracks film revenue.

Since it has only been released in US & Canada thus far, and has only be out
for 3 full weeks, projections are going to be a bit iffy.

Figuring a 90 day run, my very rough projections run someplace around $325
million for the US & Canada only. The profits are huge, but the profit
margins are stunning, given the relatively low production and initial
marketing costs. Any hopes Mel might have had for a big tax deduction in
2004 seem to be pretty much trashed.

Just think what would happen if Christians weren't such a bunch of slackers
with no money!

;-)