Da Vinci execs point to box office after critical mauling

Senior movie industry executives went on the offensive yesterday in defence of The Da Vinci Code after its mauling by the critics at the Cannes Film Festival.

Executives took the almost unheard-of step of speaking personally to the press to deliver initial box office results that indicate a strong public appetite for more Dan Brown, despite criticisms that the adaptation of his bestselling book is boring and baffling.

The estimated first weekend take for the thriller starring Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou is expected to be at least $175 million, Jeff Blake, vice chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment, revealed yesterday, on the basis of the weekend's figures.

The film set box office records in Roman Catholic Italy, taking €2 million ($4.12 million), nearly double that country's previous top hit, the Oscar-winning Holocaust drama Life is Beautiful.

This was despite calls from the Vatican to boycott the film for claiming that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and produced children whose descendants survive to the present day.

The movie also enjoyed the most successful opening weekend ever in Spain and came second only to Spider Man in Brazil.

It is set to be among the top five most successful openings in countries as diverse as Denmark, Taiwan, Chile and Belgium.

The response in the UK had been "excellent," he said.

The only major market where the film has yet to be released is India where it has not yet received certification amid fierce protests over the content.

Mr Blake said: "We have enough figures to be pretty confident that we are going to be one of the biggest worldwide openings ever.

"It will be at least $175 million. That would put us in the top 10 and make us the biggest non-sequel opening of all time."

The third in George Lucas's Star Wars epic had the most successful opening weekend of all time, taking nearly $254 million ($409.55 million), followed by the third in the Harry Potter franchise and films including The Matrix sequels.

The most successful one-off movie until now has been War of the Worlds in seventh place on $167 million for its opening weekend.

For blockbusters, opening weekends can be crucial in indicating likely long-term revenues.

Mr Blake insisted that an overview of the critics showed support as well as condemnation for the movie, which is believed to have cost $125 million to make. But it is paying audiences who count.

"The week began with the Cannes Film Festival and the critical reaction and the week is ending with the people. They have spoken and decided that, in the light of all the comments and the controversy and the criticism, this was a film they wanted to see badly."

Asked why he was taking the unusual step of shunning the French Riviera sunshine to reveal the box office figures, Mr Blake betrayed a hint of concern that the film could be damaged by the bad publicity.

"We're anxious to get out there a little more widely than we would usually do," he said.

But he insisted the film was "absolutely" everything they had hoped it would be.

"I defer to Dan Brown on this. He said it was a thrill for him to see his book brought to the screen and it was a thrill for us to do it."

Elsewhere at the Cannes festival this weekend, Al Gore, the former American vice-president, was promoting An Inconvenient Truth, a film based on his campaigning talks warning of the dangers of global warning.

BBC Films announced a slate of projects including King Kong star Naomi Watts and Viggo Mortensen in Eastern Promises, a thriller to be shot in London's East End by the director David Cronenberg.

Catherine Zeta-Jones is set to appear alongside Guy Pearce in Death Defying Acts, about the life of escapologist Houdini.

There will be new comedies involving Steve Coogan and Armando Iannucci.

- INDEPENDENT