America’s favorite green ogre may have topped the 2004 box office, but two unexpected hits - a politically charged documentary and a graphic portrayal of the crucifixion of Jesus - defined the year in movies.

Filmgoers eagerly ate up three servings of Ben Stiller -Along Came Polly, Dodgeball and Meet the Fockers all opened at No. 1. 20th Century Fox

Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 and Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ became cultural touchstones for a nation divided in an election year. They also fueled one of the year’s biggest Hollywood trends: controversy as marketing tool. (Related story: 2004 rings up as second-best of all time)

"When people went to see The Passion of the Christ, it wasn’t just to see a movie - it was to vote for that philosophy," says Brandon Gray, president of boxofficemojo.com, a film industry Web site. "Fahrenheit 9/11 did that as well; it just preached to a different choir."

Fahrenheit’s anti-Bush stance served as daily fodder for conservative radio hosts, and The Passion took shots from some who perceived an anti-Semitic bias.

Both films benefited. Passion took $370.3 million to place third for the year behind Shrek 2 ($436.7 million) and Spider-Man 2 ($373.4 million)Fahrenheit was the biggest documentary ever, taking in $119.1 million.

Other trends at the box office in 2004:

Ben Stiller rules

Even with the flop Envy, Stiller had a career year. Three of his films, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, Along Came Polly and Meet the Fockers, opened at No. 1. Starsky & Hutch was No. 2 and might have been No. 1 had it not opened amid the Passion’s juggernaut.

"The guy opens movies because he has an appeal to younger audiences and older audiences," says Paul Dergarabedian of Exhibitor Relations. He compares Stiller’s 2004 to Jim Carrey’s 1994 breakout with The Mask, Dumb & Dumber and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. "He’s definitely on the A-list."

Tom Hanks cools

His animated turn in The Polar Express gave Tom Hanks an end-of-year boost, but roles as a marooned immigrant in Steven Spielberg’s The Terminal and an eccentric Southern thief in the Coen brothers’ The Ladykillers failed to ignite audiences.

"This year proves Tom Hanks cannot do just any sort of role and expect people to show up at the box office," says Gitesh Pandya of boxofficeguru.com. "We like to see him play his natural American accent and do mainstream comedies or uplifting drama."

Don’t count him out for long. Hanks has signed on for the lead in The Da Vinci Code with director Ron Howard.

Families flock to films

When National Treasure took $35.1 million in November to top the box office in its opening weekend, analysts were surprised. When it led the box office for three weekends in a row, they realized something was afoot: The PG rating was revitalized.

Beginning in October, PG-rated Shark Tale, The Incredibles, National Treasure and Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events virtually dominated the top of the box office. "People were supporting clean movies at a very heightened rate," Gray says.

A ’Grudge’ proved profitable

Another low-cost film that reaped a big return was The Notebook, which cost $30 million and took in $81 million. "It didn’t have a lot of star power; (it) came out in middle of summer," Pandya says. "It offered something mature for women who were being ignored by all these action films."

Epics largely disappoint

Several of 2004’s sprawling, big-budget epics - a somewhat delayed reaction to the success of Oscar winner Gladiator - failed to capture U.S. audiences. Troy topped $133 million, but King Arthur evaporated in the summer blitz, The Alamo was soon forgotten, and Alexander withered under bad word of mouth

Little movies could and did

Though they didn’t add billions to the bottom line, some acclaimed smaller films helped make people feel good about going to the movies, Dergarabedian says.

"Movies like Sideways, Napoleon Dynamite, Garden State, I Heart Huckabees ... what they did was boost the goodwill of audiences," Dergarabedian says. "When people come out of Sideways, they’re really happy with the choice they made. Hopefully, that will instill a sense of wanting to see more movies in 2005."