Gibson epic smashes box office record

The movie, which is spoken in the Mayan dialect and estimated to have cost £20 million to make, has taken £1.3 million since its release on Friday.

It opened in 385 cinemas in the UK just weeks after the former Braveheart star, 50, appeared to have ruined his career by shocking fans with a drunken anti-Semitic outburst.

The film, which has received the kind of attention that directors of other foreign-language films can only dream of, beat the previous record-holder Hero, which took £1.05 million in 2004 during its opening weekend.

Takings also dwarf opening other titles such as the acclaimed Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (£696,000) and Amelie (£559,000).

Gibson's fourth film as director is set during the decline of the Mayan civilisation in Mexico and features a cast of largely unknowns.

It has received mixed reviews from critics, who say violence is shown in extreme detail with throats cut, people beheaded and still-beating hearts ripped from the victims of human sacrifice.

Two years ago, The Passion Of The Christ, Gibson's controversial retelling of the final 12 hours of Jesus Christ's life, became a commercial phenomenon.

But the film, which featured all the dialogue in Aramaic, was also criticised for its explicit violence and by Jewish groups.

Gibson was arrested for drink-driving six months ago, when he blamed Jews for being "responsible for all the wars in the world".

The Mad Max star has since publicly apologised for his comments, recently saying he had done enough to bring people to the cinema to see his latest movie.

The Passion of the Christ only took £229,426 at its opening weekend in the UK in 2004, compared with £1,360,110 for Apocalypto.

It only opened in 46 cinemas, compared with 385 for the Oscar-winning star's latest effort.