The plot thickened as “The Da Vinci Code” headed into opening weekend with bad word of mouth, but the Goliath multimedia sensation came through at the box office. While critics were grumbling and the studio kept the flick under tight wraps (usually not a good omen), searchers’ interest in the big-screen adaptation of Dan Brown‘s novel never waned. Searches on the movie trended up and didn’t slump as much as they usually do after splashy Friday debuts.
Negativity about the film seeped out pre-release, but judging from the huge opening weekend, it turns out the studio had little to worry about. However, moviegoers were curious what the critics had to say. On the day Da Vinci hit screens, we saw a huge surge in searches for “da vinci code movie reviews” and “da vinci code critics reviews“—unusually high volumes of review searches for such a big-budget movie with a built-in army of fans.
Searches on stars Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou shared a weekend surge with director Ron Howard. The year’s biggest box office hit thus far also spawned searches on “da vinci the last supper,” “paul bettany,” “so dark the con of man,” “what is the da vinci code,” and “mary magdalene.” Will the “Code” fend off battles from the “X-Men” and “Superman” later this summer to emerge as the year’s box-office champ? The answer lies somewhere in a secretive, dark place full of grumpy elders—the local movie theater.
Filed under: Movies, Da Vinci Code
