Moviegoers shunned harsh reviews and spent $77 million on "The Da Vinci Code" this weekend, giving Sony Pictures' theological thriller the best opening this year at U.S. and Canadian theaters.
The film's worldwide box-office gross was even more staggering: At $224 million, it ranked second in history to last year's "Star Wars: Episode III," which hauled in $253 million.
The mystery behind the much-hyped screen version of Dan Brown's controversial bestseller now becomes: How big a hit will it be?
Box-office receipts at 3,735 theaters in the U.S. and Canada fell to $27.5 million on Saturday from $29 million Friday, and it was unclear how word of mouth among moviegoers might affect turnouts on Memorial Day weekend and beyond.
Sony Pictures executives -- who must have cringed last week when a Cannes Film Festival screening drew unintended laughs from a smattering of international critics -- sounded thrilled Sunday, saying the numbers topped their expectations.
"With a start like this, you just sit back and enjoy the ride," said Jeff Blake, Sony's chairman of worldwide marketing and distribution.
Amy Pascal, the studio's movie chief, said the film could appeal to mass consumers despite being scoffed at by some highbrow reviewers -- much like the book, which has sold nearly 60 million copies and counting.
"Everybody seemed to go to the theaters -- they voted with their feet," she said.
The weekend's other major release, DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc.'s "Over the Hedge," came up shy of some estimates with a gross of $37.2 million from 4,059 theaters, taking the No. 2 slot. That was less than the $40 million-plus that several Wall Street analysts had expected in light of the lofty numbers rung up recently by such animated family films as "Madagascar" and "Ice Age: The Meltdown," but distribution executives said they were encouraged.
"This opening is right in line with what we were hoping for -- with or without 'The Da Vinci Code' in the marketplace," said Don Harris, general sales manager for Viacom Inc.'s Paramount Pictures, the new distribution partner for DreamWorks Animation under a seven-year deal.
Families made up 80% of the movie's audiences, which Harris said boded well for this long holiday weekend and the early summer as children get out of school.
Studios like to open key pictures the weekend before Memorial Day or other holidays, because if word of mouth is favorable the momentum can help them rack up almost as much in their extended second weekends as in their debuts.
