$224 Million: Da Vinci Code Has Second Biggest Opening Weekend Of All Time Worldwide

Posted on May 21, 2006

Dan Brown's international bestseller opened in wide release Friday, May 19, 2006 and has already made $224 million worldwide in its first weekend, making it the second biggest opening weekend of all time.

The early reviews have been mixed: Roger Ebert enjoyed it, giving it "Thumbs Up", as did Roger Friedman at Fox News. The Hollywood Reporter hated it and the Los Angeles Times found it "competent" but not outstanding.

Fans gleefully ignored the critics and rushed to theaters worldwide: the film had the 2nd biggest opening weekend of all time worldwide with $224 million. It had the number 1 international opening weekend with $147 million and made $77 million in the U.S.

We saw it Friday night and loved it! Ian McClellan deserves an Oscar nod for his turn as impassioned Grail scholar Sir Lee Teabing. Ron Howard took a book that seemed unfilmable because of its complexities and made it a vastly entertaining film.