Mel Gibson Film '5th-Largest Opening in History'

In the face of a vicious and sustained campaign attacking both Mel Gibson and his film "The Passion of the Christ" the opening day box office receipts Wednesday soared to $23.5 million, with an additional $3 million take in advance screenings held Monday and Tuesday.

The film opened on 4,600 screens in 3,006 theaters on Wednesday.

According to the New York Times, which has been in attack mode against Gibson and his film since he first began filming "The Passion," it was the fifth-largest opening in Hollywood history, with "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" hanging on to first place with opening-day receipts of $34.4 million.

Industry experts told the Times that the box office figure was astonishing for an extremely violent R-rated religious film in Aramaic and Latin with English subtitles.

"This number would be impressive for a mainstream blockbuster, let alone a subtitled historical-religious epic," Paul Dergarabedian, president of Exhibitor Relations, which tracks ticket sales, told the Times. "This shows the power of public discourse with regard to religious topics and the effect a full-blown media blitz can have on the public."

Bob Berney, president of Newmarket Films, which is distributing the movie, told the Times he expected the number of theaters to increase slightly next week because of the intense interest. The film is already moving to more screens on Friday, for a total of 4,793 in 3,043 theaters.

"The success of the film so far is incredible, and it's across the board," Berney told the Times, adding that theaters were packed not just in Bible Belt cities like Houston and Oklahoma City, but also at the AMC theater on 42nd Street in Manhattan and the soaring ArcLight Cinemas in Hollywood.

The Times reported that some producers and studio executives said the film would probably take in $75 million by the close of the weekend and, if attendance continued to hold up, could take in as much as $100 million in the first five days.

"My feeling is these people will go back more than once," Mr. Berney said. "And with this kind of number, people who are not part of churches will go just out of feeling that they've got to see it, a curiosity. I don't know how long it will go," he added "but there will be enough repeat business to sustain it for quite a while."

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