Looks like the old maxim that there’s no bad publicity is still holding up. Despite his booze-fuelled tirade, Mel Gibson’s fans have decided that they still want to see his blood-drenched movies. And though critics have been lambasting the director for making what is essentially a summer blockbuster action movie in the guise of a chin-stroking look at anot💮her culture, that wasn’t enough to keep it from the top. Still, Mel had to settle for a not quite Passion-ate $14.2 million. It’s hardly a big launch given that his look at Jesus&🎉rsquo; death started on $83.8 million, but then there isn’t as much Christian interest in this one…

That meant Nancy Meyers’ latest, soppy rom-com The Holiday, had to settle for second place. It wasn’t far behind Apocalypto, taking in $13.5 million. Happy Feet finally toppled from its icy throne atop the box office, though it only dropped to third place, making $12.7 million this weekend alone, which has boosted its ear♕nings to $137.8 million in total.

At fourth, Casino Royale was nipping at the penguins’ heels, making $8.8 million and landing it just head of this week’s third new arrival, another action flick masquerading as a message movie, Leo DiCaprio’s Blood Diamond. The tragic look at the dark side of the diamond trade could only muster up $8.5 million in fifth,🦩 hardly the sort of𝕴 epic opening Warner Bros were after.

The studio also saw its kiddie movie entry for the week, Unaccompanied Minors, fare badly on release. With just $6.2 million in this first weekend, its only s🐻aving grace is that it was pretty cheap to make. At seventh, Déjà Vu held on a little, nabbing $6 million and beating out the underperforming ﷽Nativity Story, which rustled up just $5.3 million.

Rounding out this week’s charts, we have the two Christmas comedies, Deck The Halls (ninth) and The Santa Clause 3 🌼(10th), which will now hopefully drop out of the top 10 altogether…