Sold Out Empty Theaters

Is Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ really so popular? Maybe not, according to Eden at Just One Bite:

We walked past people giving away tickets to The Passion of the Christ as we went in [to see Dawn of the Dead]. Is the media noting that the ridiculously high box office figures for this movie are being generated with almost empty theatres? I’ve been to the movies a few times in recent weeks, and every single time, a church group has bought out a showing of The Passion and is giving away free tickets. Dante stopped to have a discussion with one of the church volunteers as he went in, but I just politely told the man who stopped me that I wanted to see something with a little less bloodshed and violence.

Melissa and I haven’t been to a movie since we saw that Meg Ryan boxing flick a couple months back. Anyone else have any anecdotal evidence to back up Eden’s story?