Da Vinci came, Da Vinci was castigated and Da Vinci conquered this weekend at the US box office as the book-based blockbuster ended up setting records and proving once again that pretty much any quality of film can be a big hit if you tap a source material that millions of people are interested in seeing on the big screen. Yes, Ron Howard, writer Akiva Goldsman and star Tom Hanks had plenty to celebrate this weekend. Despite The Da Vinci Code being slaughtered by most reviewers, the movie opened to an impressive $77 million in the US alone, and became the second highest global opening behind a little film about vengeful Sith lords.
Which meant there was less bounty left over for the other new arrivals to plunder. Animated offering Over The Hedge grabbed most of it, with a $37 million opening weekend that shouldn’t disappoint but is still less than Madagascar and nowhere near Shrek territory.
The third fresh film was See No Evil, a stalk ‘n’ slash horror brought to the screen by Lionsgate and people more generally associated with hulking men in spangly pants. The WWE’s wrestling company launched one of their big stars – Kane – in a psychopathic killer role, with hopes that the niche audience would bite. Sixth place isn’t too shabby when your budget is $8 million and your release is much more limited than the big releases, but there’s some way to go when the film makes $4 million on its first week.
Elsewhere, Poseidon began the long sink down the charts, Akeelah And The Bee clung on to become something of a sleeper and Ice Age 2 finally dropped out of the top 10, shoved out no doubt by Hedge’s animal antics.
Next week? Expect the X-Men to face a tough battle with Da Vinci for the top slot.
Meanwhile… Let’s get charty!
Title
Weekend Gross
Total Gross
Week #
1
**The Da Vinci Code
** $77,000,000
$77,000,000
1
2
Over The Hedge $37,228,000
$37,228,000
1
3
**Mission: Impossible III
**
$11,015,000
$103,201,000
3
4
**Poseidon
**
$9,200,000
$36,778,000
2
5
**RV
**
$5,100,000
$50,417,000
4
6
**See No Evil
**
$4,350,000
$4,350,000
1
7
**Just My Luck
**
$3,375,000
$10,458,000
2
8
**An American Haunting
**
$1,663,000
$13,624,000
3
9
United 93
$1,426,000
$28,282,000
4
10
****Akeelah And The Bee
**
**
$1,100,000
$15,722,000
4