Posted on 05/22/2006 11:21:21 AM PDT by abb
'Da Vinci' shines, box office doesn't Sales still down from 2005 despite strong showing
LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- A record-setting showing at the box office for "The Da Vinci Code" over the weekend still wasn't enough to propel receipts past last year's numbers, preliminary figures showed Monday.
It looked as if overall box office would be flat to down, as the top 12 films were off 2.8% at $153.2 million from $157.6 million last year for the Friday-to-Sunday time frame. Final figures for the entire weekend were due later Monday.
While "Da Vinci Code" made an estimated $77 million in the United States and $224 million worldwide, its big domestic take wasn't enough to overwhelm last year's showing of "Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith."
But Hollywood can breathe a sigh of relief, since "Da Vinci" overcame disappointing critical reviews (at least for its first weekend). Also, the fact that it was in line with forecasts and beat the $60 million estimate from its own distributor, Sony Corp. (SNE) , bodes well for the rest of the summer.
"I would still characterize it as a very strong weekend," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations Inc. "'Star Wars' really upped the ante in terms of what we were going to generate in terms of box office."
"Star Wars: Episode III" brought in $253.9 million in worldwide sales, the only film to beat "Da Vinci" in its global debut. But "Da Vinci" had the upper hand in worldwide sales with $147 million, compared with $145.5 million for "Star Wars."
What remains to be seen is whether the film keeps generating business. With Memorial Day weekend coming next, the competition will get stiffer with Twentieth-Century Fox's (NWS) "X-Men: The Last Stand" debuting. "X-Men," the third film in the series, is expected to top the weekend.
"Da Vinci" and DreamWorks Animation's (DWA) "Over The Hedge," which made $37.2 million, should be in the second and third spots, but there may be some doubt over which is No. 2, according to Brandon Gray, president of BoxOfficeMojo.com.
Gray said that "Da Vinci" should take the second spot, but "Hedge" will be a close third.
For his part, Dergarabedian said that this Memorial Day holiday could result in another down weekend, since "Star Wars" last year propelled sales to the second-highest of all time.
Both Dergarabedian and Gray agree, however, that "Da Vinci's" showing, after disappointing returns for two other summer films -- "Mission: Impossible 3" and "Poseidon" -- is a sign that the summer overall may be better than last year's dismal returns.
While "the verdict is still out," Gray added, "the summer does appear to be picking up, when it needed to." Sony shares were down a percentage point in afternoon trading.
Russ Britt is the Los Angeles bureau chief for MarketWatch.
One more Good News ping...
Why?
Reminds me of when liberals started using obscure box office records records to pump up brokeback mtn. Same here, the US opening was disappointing for da vinci
I'd like to know the answer to that question also.
agenda and expectation?
Well, for one thing, DaVinci Code was the biggest selling movie in history overseas. Its only a movie, and not a bad one at that, but it will make a lot of money.
"Why is it that when War Of the Worlds did 77M in box office receipts in its premiere weekend it was a "flop", but when the DaVinci Code does more or less the same numbers in its premiere weekend it is a "blockbuster hit"?
Why?"
Probably has to do with the cost associated with each film. War of the worlds (i believe i read) was the most expensive film to make thus far. War of the worlds stunk anyway.
People were saying that "Mission Impossible III" is a flop also...but it's actually doing quite well.
Probably because WOTWs didnt make 77 mill in its opening weekend.
It will be interesting to see how much "Code" drops off this coming weekend.
It was going to be pretty tough to beat Star Wars III at the box office. I would not be surprised to see a rebound next week with Da Vinci and X3 both out. And for most of the year the box office has been up. And as much as I am looking forward to POTC II, I hope to see smaller movies do well. The more of those that do well the better chance we have of the director and not the producer being in charge of the movie.
It's a runaway hit!
How can I miss it? I better drop everything and get right over to the theatre...
Wait...
Never mind...
It will be interesting to see if this movie bbrings more people into the churches.
"While "Da Vinci Code" made an estimated $77 million in the United States and $224 million worldwide, its big domestic take wasn't enough to overwhelm last year's showing of "Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith."
The sales in the rest of the World at this time would classify it as a hit. $147 million is nice hunk of change from the rest of the world.
A friend who used to travel around the world on business before 9/11 explained this reality to me when Follywood and other liberal actors, singers/entertainers trashed America and later GW in 2000. They were appealing to the rest of the world which hated America.
Opening Weekend: $83,848,082
(3,043 theaters, $27,554 average)
% of Total Gross: 22.6
Source: http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=passionofthechrist.htm
Sorry, forgot how to do links.
Correct...money is money, whether $s, Yen or Euros.
I can't imagine why it would.
War of the Worlds actually only got $64 million its opening weekend (it was the July 4th weekend, so the $77 million figure includes four days), and it had a higher production budget than DaVinci Code. It still went on to gross $234 million domestically, though.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.