It’s official: “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” has surpassed “The Blair Witch Project” as the highest grossing independent film of all time. It just knocked off Hollywood blockbuster “Men in Black II” as the top five money earner of 2002, and the picture has remained in the national top 10 for dozens of weeks.

It also seems to have been playing at Lawrence’s Liberty Hall forever.

“We figured it would be something that would do good three or four weeks, then we’d bring in some other movies,” says Darren Fox, Liberty Hall Cinemas manager. “It’s been a pretty big surprise.

“It’s in its 16th week here and it sold out the 7 p.m. show last Saturday night.”

The tale of a 30-something Greek woman (Nia Vardalos) from a huge extended family who falls in love with a WASPish teacher (John Corbett) has racked up a whopping $192.8 million in the U.S. and counting.

Fox asserts the movie appeals to those looking for escapist fare.

“The biggest thing is that it’s pretty light,” he explains. “There’s no ending to figure out. There’s nothing disturbing that happens. It’s just a light romp. People seem to be looking for something that is pure entertainment.”

Interestingly, Fox is not particularly fond of the flick.

“When I saw that movie I hated it instantly,” he says, laughing. “And (because of projection duties) I’ve seen the very beginning and the very end of it WAY too many times.”

One drawback of the film’s protracted stint is that Liberty Hall has been forced to cut back on the run of engagement for some movies and bypass others altogether. Fox mentions “One Hour Photo” and “Sex and Lucia” as examples that got yanked from Liberty Hall because no screening slots were available.

“It bumps a lot of films,” he says. “A perfect example is this month’s ‘Auto Focus’ or ‘Secretary.’ They didn’t do horribly, but because of ‘Greek Wedding’ being there, we have to drop them sooner than we probably would. We enjoy giving films a chance, even if they’re not doing anything. If it’s a good movie we like to keep it around and let everybody see it.”

Surprisingly, “Greek Wedding” is not the theater’s record holder for duration ” not by a long shot.

Quentin Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction” lasted an astonishing 34 weeks in 1994-95. In second place is the Chinese-language hit “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” which ran 25 weeks in 2001.

However, Fox says the attendance for “Greek Wedding” has been so consistently strong that if it plays another six weeks it’s likely to become the theater’s highest grosser of all time.

He adds, “The ‘Greek’ has been good for us because it allows us to continue to be an art house and continue to show art films.”