Gibson’s Passion gamble pays off at the box office

MEL GIBSON’S gamble on The Passion of the Christ has paid off enormously, riding a storm of religious debate to a near-record $117.5 million haul in its first five days in the US.

"The Passion," rocketed to the No 1 box-office slot for the weekend with $76.2 million from Friday to Sunday.

It put up the second-best five-day figures for a movie opening on Wednesday, behind The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King at $124.1 million and ahead of Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace at $105.6 million.

The first movie released in 2004 to cross the $100 million mark, The Passion easily passed the weekend's No 2 move, 50 First Dates at $88.7 million, as the year's top-grossing film.

Once considered a niche film that would appeal mainly to conservative Christians, the bloody chronicle of Christ's crucifixion swelled to blockbuster proportions as Gibson rallied church groups to support it and accusations of anti-Semitism brought mainstream attention.

"It's an event movie," said Bruce Davey, Gibson's partner in Icon Productions. "It all began with the grass-roots campaign we started, but the controversy has obviously helped in creating awareness."

Some Jewish and Christian leaders have said they fear "The Passion" will revive the notion that Jews collectively were responsible for Christ's death.

Gibson has denied such accusations, and cast members Jim Caviezel, who plays Christ, and Maia Morgenstern, a Jewish actress who plays Mary said Gibson approached the film with great respect for Judaic traditions.