'Da Vinci' Opening Draws Throngs

By Josh Friedman

May 22, 2006 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

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.

“Over the Hedge” is seen as crucial to this year’s results for DreamWorks Animation, the independent studio whose stock has been trading below its October 2004 initial offering price.

The Glendale-based company reported this month that its first-quarter profit was down 73% from a year earlier, as disappointing results for 2005’s “Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit” continued to crimp earnings.

Banc of America Securities analyst Michael Savner said DreamWorks shares could get shaved in the short run if money managers and strategists lowered their consensus expectations for a gross of $175 million for “Over the Hedge” in the U.S. and Canada.

Savner said he expected the movie, which will face stiff competition when Pixar Animation Studios’ “Cars” comes out June 9, to generate $140 million to $150 million in the U.S. and Canada and $370 million worldwide.

That would make the film, which cost about $80 million to produce, profitable but not the windfall some expected.

“ ‘Over the Hedge’ wasn’t a bomb,” Savner said, “but it may not be the catalyst to energize investors about the DreamWorks story.”

The studio’s best days, he said, could come in 2007 with the arrivals of “Shrek the Third” and “Bee Movie,” co-written by Jerry Seinfeld.

Overall, theaters in the U.S. and Canada took in $165 million Friday through Sunday, up 1% from the same weekend last year, according to industry tracker Nielsen EDI. Paramount’s “Mission: Impossible III” dropped to third with $11 million and Lionsgate’s “See No Evil,” a slasher flick starring wrestler Kane, opened at $4.4 million.

From Jan. 1 through the weekend, box-office receipts in the U.S. and Canada have totaled $3.1 billion, up 3% from 2005 as the industry strives to rebound from a dismal year.

For Sony, “The Da Vinci Code” could end up being highly profitable despite a $125-million production budget and an additional $75 million in worldwide marketing and distribution costs.

It also could be another big payday for star Tom Hanks, producer Brian Grazer and director Ron Howard, who are expected to share in the profit. For each it was the biggest opening weekend of their careers.

How well the film holds up may depend largely on word of mouth.

Studio executives declined to say how audiences rated the movie in their exit surveys, but a poll by online ticket seller Fandango showed that 64% of its customers rated it excellent or very good, compared with 85% for “Over the Hedge.”

Sony executives said the opening box-office numbers were all the more “phenomenal” considering that “The Da Vinci Code” is atypical of teen-oriented summer fare such as the “Harry Potter,” “Star Wars” and “Spider-Man” movies.

What’s more, they said, older filmgoers often hold off venturing to the theaters to avoid the hassles of early crowds.

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Box office

Preliminary results (in millions) based on studio projections.

*--* Movie 3-day gross Total The Da Vinci Code $77.0 $77.0

Over the Hedge 37.2 37.2

Mission: Impossible III 11.0 103.2

Poseidon 9.2 36.8

RV 5.1 50.4

See No Evil 4.4 4.4

Just My Luck 3.4 10.5

An American Haunting 1.7 13.6