Christ tops Easter box office

The Passion of the Christ was back at the top of the US box office charts over Easter weekend.

13:55 12 April 2004

Mel Gibson's religious blockbuster The Passion of the Christ was back at the top of the US box office charts over Easter weekend.

The film, which charts the final hours of Christ's life, is now the eighth most popular movie of all time in North America, ahead of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.

In its seventh week in cinemas, the $30 million flick took more than $17 million (9.3 million), raising its total box office receipts to $355 million.

Last week's number one, writer/director Guillermo del Toro's comic book adaptation Hellboy dropped to second place, with an estimated $11.1 million (6 million) over the Easter period, while Johnson Family Vacation and The Alamo both took the third spot, with receipts of $9.2 million (5 million) each.

The Rock's Walking Tall was in fifth place, followed by Disney's animated comedy Home on the Range at six, Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed at seven and comedy sequel The Whole Ten Yards, which opened at number eight.

Rounding off the top ten were romance Ella Enchanted and the teen romantic comedy The Girl Next Door.