Keith Johnson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Damn! I knew it'd be big, but not this big. Unfortunately I wasted my
ducats on a really weak "Poseidon". You know it's sad when the cheesy
'70s original is way better than the remake. Back to "Da Vinci", I
wonder how long it'll be before the copycat conspiracy books and films
start appearing? Also, given how many movies recently have earned way
more box office overseas than in America, I wonder if the suits aren't
thinking more about tailoring films to appeal to that crowd, instead of
just Americans?
Anyone read the book and see the movie? How do the two compare?
"Da Vinci Code" unlocks $224 mln in world sales
By Dean GoodmanSun May 21, 12:49 PM ET
All the protests and all the bad reviews could not prevent "The Da Vinci
Code" from recording a $224 million worldwide opening, the
second-biggest debut ever at the global box office, its distributor said
on Sunday. The controversial adaptation of Dan Brown's best-selling
novel, the story of a Vatican cover-up involving Jesus Christ and his
supposed offspring, sold about $77 million worth of tickets at movie
theaters in the United States and Canada during its first three days,
according to Columbia Pictures. Box-office watchers had predicted a
North American opening of between $50 million and $80 million for the
most eagerly awaited movie of the year.
The biggest North American opening this year had been $68 million for
"Ice Age: The Meltdown" seven weeks ago. But "The Da Vinci Code" numbers
were still far from the $115 million record held by 2002's "Spider-Man."
"The Da Vinci Code" earned about $147 million overseas, the biggest
international opening ever. The previous record was last year's "Star
Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith" with $145 million, Columbia
said. The total haul of $224 million ranks No. 2 behind the $253 million
tally for the "Star Wars" movie, the studio said.
Columbia Pictures, a unit of Sony Corp (NYSE:SNE - news)., released the
$125 million film in 90 foreign markets, following its world premiere at
the Cannes Film Festival on Thursday. The strong sales came despite --
or because of -- an onslaught of protests and publicity not seen since
another religious movie, Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ,"
earned $84 million domestically during its first weekend in February
2004. It grossed $612 million worldwide.
Brown's fictional premise -- that Jesus Christ had a child with Mary
Magdalene and that their blood line survived through the ages -- was a
huge hit at bookstores, with more than 40 million copies sold around the
world. But some Christians, particularly Catholics, were angered by the
story and have mounted a high-profile offensive against director Ron
Howard's movie adaptation, which stars Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou.
A Catholic lay organization, the American Society for the Defense of
Tradition, Family and Property, took out full-page ads in USA Today on
Friday calling for worshipers to stage prayer vigils outside at least
1,000 theaters nationwide. Other church groups have welcomed the
opportunity to use the film as a starting point for discussion about the
Bible, as has American Atheists, which says the same level of scrutiny
applied to the book and film also should be used to question all other
religious claims.
On the heels of the Cannes premiere of "The Da Vinci Code," critics
joined the chorus of naysayers, overwhelmingly lambasting it as "grim,"
"unwieldy" and "plodding." It did get a respectable review from
America's best-known movie critic, Roger Ebert, who called it
"preposterously entertaining."
Sony, the film's producer Imagine Entertainment, and the movie's stars
have stressed that the movie is merely entertainment -- and moviegoers
appeared to agree.
"The book became more than a book and the movie became more than a
movie," said Valerie Van Galder, Columbia's president of domestic
marketing. "It became a perfect storm." "Da Vinci Code" unlocks $224 mln
in world sales
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