Da Vinci battles at box office
2006-05-19 10:00
Cannes, France - After being mauled by Cannes film festival critics, The Da Vinci Code was struggling on Thursday at the French box office just one day after it opened.
National figures for Wednesday - the day it hit cinemas and had its Cannes world premiere - showed the movie sold 233 000 tickets, a respectable number but disappointing when compared to other Hollywood blockbusters.
The last Star Wars and Harry Potter films did far better, each selling more than 600 000 tickets in their first day.
France is one of the first markets to show the $125m The Da Vinci Code in its cinemas.
Audiences in the United States and Britain will be able to see the film from Friday.
The French welcome puts the movie in fourth place for a first-day showing this year, behind a French comedy sequel, Les Bronzes 3, the Hollywood animated production Ice Age 2 and another French comedy flick, Camping, according to the firm CBO Box-office.
Critics in Cannes called the film - based on the best-selling novel - lacklustre and grim.
The audience at its black-tie world premiere however gave it a standing ovation, and observers noted that the runaway success of the book guaranteed decent box office returns no matter how the movie fared in the long term.