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|  'The Da Vinci Code' banked an estimated USD 29 million at the box office on its first day in theaters, an industry official has said, positioning the film to turn in the strongest opening weekend for any movie this year.
Preliminary results showed that the movie, based on a runaway best-seller and starring multiple-Oscar winner tom hanks, appealed to moviegoers despite lackluster reviews.
The Columbia Pictures movie opened in 3,735 theaters in the US and grossed a respectable average of USD 7,764 per screen.
"This is the first big film of the summer to exceed box office expectations," Paul Dergarabedian, President of Exhibitor Relations Co Inc, which tracks box office receipts yesterday.
Dergarabedian said the movie could gross USD 60 million to USD 80 million in its opening weekend. That would easily eclipse Tom Cruise's latest offering, Paramount's 'Mission: Impossible III,' which fell well below expectation with USD 48 million on its opening weekend earlier this month.
For 'Da Vinci Code,' controversy around a script that suggests Jesus married and fathered a child "only served to pump up the marketplace and get moviegoers get really interested in seeing what the fuss was about," he said.
The film's box office take was notable in a shaky Hollywood market but far from record-setting. Twenty-nine films have had single-day receipts that exceeded USD 30 million. The record for the biggest opening day, USD 50 mn is held by last year's 'Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of The Sith.'
Within hours of the "Da Vinci" showing that ended Tuesday night about 11 o'clock in France, ultra-negative wire service stories were circling the globe reporting on reactions at the screening and quoting some of those on hand. Reuters' story was headlined "Cannes Critics Left Cold at 'Da Vinci Code' Screening" while the AP said "'Da Vinci Code' Misses the Mark for Critics." These articles prompted widespread coverage in newspapers and on the Internet of the bleak reception given to "Da Vinci" by the international critics. |
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