<i>The Passion</i> sets record

The Passion of the Christ has become the most successful film at Eden Century cinemas, breaking the record previously held by Titanic.

Eden Century said the number of cinemagoers in its opening week reached over 12,000, an increase of 21 per cent on Titanic.

Until now, in its 11 years of operation, the most successful film that the Eden Century cinemas had ever seen was Titanic, starring Leonardo De Caprio and Kate Winslet. Titanic had welcomed almost 10,000 people during its opening week in 1998.

Eden Century cinemas general manager Ray Azzopardi said The Passion of the Christ had brought an atypical audience to the cinema, people who were not generally cinemagoers, but who had a personal interest in the content of the film.