Christ Back On Top At Easter

Mel Gibson's epic movie The Passion Of The Christ has jumped back to the top of the American box office thanks to an Easter (04) boost.

In its seventh week on release, the harrowing drama - about the final hours of Jesus Christ's life - made an extra $17 million (GBP9.4 million), taking its full tally to a staggering $354.9 million (GBP197.1 million).

Meanwhile, Gibson is already negotiating a TV premiere deal for The Passion in America, but he wants the entire film to run without commercials.

The Passion of The Christ's new three-day box office take was enough to knock last week's (ends09APR04) number one movie Hellboy off the top of the film list, but the comic book adaptation managed to hold off new releases to come in second with a healthy $11.1 million (GBP6.2 million).

Urban comedy JOHNSON FAMILY VACATION was the surprise hit among the new releases - the film, starring Cedric The Entertainer, rapper Bow Wow and BEYONCE KNOWLES' sister Solange made $9.2 million (GBP5.1 million) to come in third.

Heroic western The Alamo came in fourth with $9.1 million (GBP5 million) and Matthew Perry and BRUCE WILLIS' WHOLE NINE YARDS sequel WHOLE TEN YARDS took in a disappointing $6.7 million (GBP3.7 million) to finish eighth.