The controversial Mel Gibson film, The Passion of the Christ, has opened to packed houses at cinemas across the State, taking over €336,000 on its first three days of Irish release.
That represents average takings of more than €7,300 at the 46 cinemas showing the film.
It was not the No 1 film at the Irish box-office, taking €39,000 less than a rival new release, the Hollywood comedy Starsky & Hutch, over the weekend.
However, that film was playing on more screens than the Gibson film, which achieved a higher per-screen average figure.
It is regarded as quite feasible that The Passion of the Christ will take in excess of €2.5 million at the Irish box-office.
According to Ms Niamh McCaul, managing director of Eclipse Pictures, the film's Irish distributor, it is too early to make long-term projections.
She said it was a film that would do very well every night of the week.
"It's not a typical film for the Friday or Saturday night date audience, which has a very different consumption pattern," she added.
In the US the film topped the box-office for the third consecutive weekend and has taken over $264 million since it opened there on Ash Wednesday.
Initially dismissed by many in the international film business as a self-indulgent folly, the film was made for $25 million, and there now are projections that it could take over $1 billion by the end of its international cinema release.
The Passion of the Christ was the No 1 film of the weekend at Ireland's largest cinema complex, the 17-screen UGC multiplex in Dublin city centre, according to its Irish marketing manager, Ms Emer McEvoy.
"We are playing the film on three screens, and every evening performance sold out over the weekend. To meet the demand, we had to add an extra performance every evening. Its success definitely exceeded our expectations," she said.
The audience for the film at UGC covered "every imaginable demographic", she added, noting significant numbers of cinemagoers in their 20s and 30s.