The Passion of The Christ bolted to #1 at the box office and has grossed a record-breaking $125.2 million in five days. The $83.8 million weekend (Friday - Sunday) is the sixth-best three day weekend opening in history, and third-best for a non-sequel. The five day total is the best five day (Wednesday through Sunday) total in history, topping The Return of the King's $124.1 million. It has already cruised past 50 First Date's cumulative total of $88.7 million.

Unaffected by the negative publicity - indeed, it seemed to be helped by it - The Passion grossed more money than the rest of the top 12 combined, as the other new movies of the week barely had a pulse. It averaged an amazing $27,554 per theater. The weekend gross totals are the second best R-rated opening ever, behind only The Matrix Reloaded's $98.1 million weekend.

Gibson put his own money into this project and, according to the Hollywood buzz, his career on the line as well. So it is ironic that if the audience holds, this could become the biggest hit of Gibson's career. Signs, with $228 million, is his current top grosser. It is his eleventh $100 million film and thirteenth #1 film.

The next weekend should indicate how well the film performs over its entire box office run. If there is no huge drop in proceeds, expect it to play strongly through Easter and make a run at the Titanic for #1 grossing film in history. If there is a big drop off it will indicate that the majority of the audience went opening week and is not returning.

"I think we'll see strong bookings leading up to Easter, and I would anticipate Easter would be a huge weekend," said Bruce Davey, Gibson's partner at his film company, Icon Productions.

"The Passion is the most unlikely blockbuster I've ever seen. I don't have enough adjectives in my repertoire to describe it," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations. "Even nonbelievers probably felt the need to see this film because it's undeniably about one of the most important events in history, and everybody is talking about it."