I had heard Sony stock was down by half a point on Friday at noon in anticipation of a poor turnout for the Davinci Code. I don’t get it…isn’t it expected to be a real block buster for Sony? - Jinx 
The reviews, starting with Cannes, have been dismal. I heard one radio reviewer describe it as one long boring lecture.
That is true…the stock report did mention that. But, do we trust the critics on this one?
No noise (at least on the Internet) about the box office take yet–wait until Monday or so.
It looks pretty good for Ron Howard.
All I know is it was sold out in every showing I trying to see last night (at several theaters.)
incidentally they made 29.5million on friday.
One thing to remember, however. Strong opening weekend does not guarantee blockbuster or even overall profit. If the overwhelming majority of first weekend viewers tell their friends to avoid this movie there would likely be a strong drop in ticket sales.
Which is a record opening day for 2006 so far.
Until Next Friday…
Interesting to read it is doing blockbuster business in Italy and Mexico and other heavily Roman Catholic bastions. Looks like those threats of eternal damnation for seeing the film haven’t exactly shaken the boots of movie audiences.
Whenever I read about groups calling for a boycott of a movie, I have to wonder how many people who were on the fence decide to go see it just to spite them.
We went to see it last night–it was pretty decent, albeit laughable in spots.
Ice Age 2 had a bigger opening weekend: $68,033,544
Ebert and Roper gave it “2 thumbs up”. I was surprised, considered the poor reviews that have been coming out. Say what you will about these guys, they have a large and faithful viewing audience. Ebert gives lots of very questionable films a thumbs up, but Roper is pretty tough.
I think that so many people read the book it almost doesn’t matter what the critics say. It’s gonna rake in the dough.
$224 million worldwide so far.
Talk about a “dark con of man.”
The opinions of critics have next to no impact on the box office for several types of films. Big summer blockbusters are one type. Horror movies, teen flicks, fart-joke comedies, romance movies, and anything based on a video game are others. Critical reviews make the difference mostly for adult dramas, art house movies, and foreign flicks, but those are a tiny percentage of the market.
Word of mouth will make a difference, though. The three-day returns for this weekend are interesting.
Over the Hedge did better on Saturday than on Friday, which is normal for a kiddy feature since adults can get to Saturday matinées more easily. But so did every other movie in the top ten - except for Da Vinci Code. This may be due to the pent-up demand from fans feeling the hype or it may be an indication that fans told their buddies to stay away. The movie will take a big hit next week from X-Men III. If it can keep 50% of its audience it will be a hit. Anything less and it might not break $200 million.
Worldwide grosses will be huge, and the other revenue streams will make everyone concerned a fortune, so I won’t weep for it. And it’s nice to spit in the face of the boycotters. But I listen to the reviews, and they’re so incredibly bad that I have no desire at all to see it. Time to pop a documentary into the VCR. 
You realize that the success of DaVinci Code combined with the success of The Pounding of the Christ will have Hollywood going after religious movies with $$ in their eyes, don’t you?