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Da Vinci Code breaks Italy box office records
"The Da Vinci Code" has broken box office records in Roman Catholic Italy as tens of thousands of Italians ignored Vatican calls to boycott the film.
"The Da Vinci Code" has broken box office records in Roman Catholic Italy as tens of thousands of Italians ignored Vatican calls to boycott the film.
The movie adaptation of Dan Brown's bestseller earned 2 million euros ($2.6 million) on its opening night, nearly double the takings of Italy's previous top film, Oscar-winner Roberto Benigni's 1997 tragi-comic Holocaust drama "Life is Beautiful."
The film's distributor, Sony Corp.'s Columbia Pictures, will release worldwide sales data on Sunday.
"We had an exceptionally strong Friday with sell-out business reported in territories virtually all over the world," said Steve Elzer, the studio's senior vice president of media relations.
Italian news agencies reported record lines around the country to see the film of the novel that ignited Vatican ire by saying Jesus had a child with Mary Magdalene and the Catholic Church hushed this up.
