A resurrection happened, and The Alamo was forgotten.

As expected, the Easter weekend restored The Passion of the Christ to the top of the domestic box office. Mel Gibson's brutal depiction of Jesus' stations of the cross earned an estimated $17 million and crucified the competition.

The Alamo, the latest depiction of an epic incident in America's land-grabbing history, fired blanks, only managing a $9.2 million debut, tied for third place with road-trip yucker Johnson Family Vacation, which debuted Wednesday.

Even more woeful was Bruce Willis' hit-man comedy sequel The Whole Ten Yards, which fell way short, touching down in eighth place with just $6.7 million. Ella Enchanted, the romantic comedy aimed at tweens enchanted few, debuting with only $6.1 million in ninth place, while the more sophisticated and riskier youth comedy The Girl Next Door only managed to open in tenth place with $6 million.

Overall, the dud debuts of all these movies meant no records were set for Easter weekend. The $99.9 million grossed by the top 12 movies was a drop of 12.5 percent from last weekend, although 13 percent up on the same weekend last year.

Climbing back up from fifth place last week--a gain of 61 percent--the controversial and hugely profitable The Passion of the Christ, an R-rated Newmarket release that has now earned $354.8 million to register as the eighth best domestic grossing film ever, easily topped last week's major attraction, the comic-book monster hero tale Hellboy, which dropped 52 percent to earn $11.1 million in second place, bringing its two-week haul to $41 million.

Despite being on the top rung, The Passion of the Christ wasn't able to nail the best per-site average for wide releases. Its $5,274 average at 3,240 sites--169 less than last weekend--wasn't as much as the $6,986 for Johnson Family Vacation. That PG-13 Fox Searchlight release, which crams a family headed by Cedric the Entertainer into what, according to most critics, is an unfunny journey, has earned $11.6 million since getting into gear at 1,317 sites mid-week.

Disney's PG-13 rated The Alamo, the do-or-die battle for Texas saga, with Billy Bob Thornton as Davy Crockett and Jason Patric as Jim Bowie, besieged 2,609 sites, where it averaged $3,526.

Warners PG-13 The Whole Ten Yards, in which Matthew Perry as the nebbish neighbor is reteamed with Willis' de-mobbed mobster, averaged just $2,532 at 2,654 sites. This is only about half the business of the stars' The Whole Nine Yards, which averaged $4,719 when it debuted in February 2000 with a fairly successful $13.7 million and went on to gross $57.2 million total.

Miramax's PG-rated Ella Enchanted, a song and dance version of the eternal fable with Anne Hathaway as a modern-day victim of a fabulously wicked stepmom (Joanna Lumley), twirled into 1,931 sites averaging $3,163.

Fox's R-rated The Girl Next Door, in which earnest but love-struck high schooler Emile Hirsch tries to save neighbor Elisha Cuthbert from her life in porn, was popped into 2,147 sites where it averaged $2,795.

In limited release Miramax's R-rated I'm Not Scared, an Italian import about a young boy's discovery of a kidnapping, averaged a promising $12,750 at each of its four sites, for $51,000.

Final figures will be released Monday. Here are the top 10 weekend films, as compiled by Exhibitor Relations:

1. The Passion of the Christ, $17.1 million
2. Hellboy, $11.1 million
3. Johnson Family Vacation, $9.2 million
3. The Alamo, $9.2 million
5. Walking Tall, $8.3 million
6. Home on the Range, $8.2 million
7. Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, $8 million
8. The Whole Ten Yards, $6.7 million
9. Ella Enchanted, $6.1 million
10. The Girl Next Door, $6 million