This weekend all eyes were on that so-called sequel to “The Da Vinci Code” - “Angels & Demons”.  With no other major new releases to steal its heavenly thunder, it would have been a religious-sized upset had the reunited team of Hanks and Howard failed to deliver a number one opening.  The good news for Sony is that box-office preeminence was achieved – if only just barely.  “Angels & Demons” came in first with an estimated $48 million – only a bit ahead of last week’s number one, “Star Trek”.

You all remember “The Da Vinci Code” don’t you?  I don’t want to bring you back to a painful period in your life so let me just gloss over the finer points of the Dan Brown blockbuster.  Jesus had a wife and kids - which inexplicably translated into required reading for millions of people around the world – movie rights were sold, Tom Hanks was hired and the whole thing opened to over $70 million on this week three years ago.  “The Da Vinci Code” was that rare film that almost no one liked (24% on Rotten Tomatoes) but that still made a buttload of money.  When you add in the receipts from abroad, the Code is worth a staggering $758 million. That kind of cash demands an encore, which brings us up to date.

When it began looking like Dan Brown would never pop out his follow-up to 2003’s “Da Vinci”, Sony decided to adapt his only other Robert Langdon novel, 2000’s “Angels & Demons”.  See that?  The second movie was actually the first book!!  Despite the critical bruising Ron Howard took after his bloated and boring take on Brown, Sony somehow convinced the director to take another run at the material - I’m guessing there were a lot of zeroes on that paycheck.  Now re-scripted into a sequel instead of a prequel, “Angels & Demons” was set to… and here we run into a little problem. 

No one had a clear idea of where the second movie would wind up, box-office-wise.  On the one hand, sequels usually bring in more money than first films - but “A & D”, as I’ve mentioned, is not a true sequel.  The movie had neither “Da Vinci” nor “Code” in its title.  Plus, no one seemed to like the original much. 

Most pre-estimates I read had “A & D” beating the second week of “Star Trek” while coming in well under that “Da Vinci” opening figure of $77 million.  I don’t get to say this very often but this week the estimates were right and righter.  “Angels & Demons” did beat “Star Trek” - If only just barely.  Sony would have loved a box-office surprise (a surprise here would have been an opening figure above the studio’s “conservative” $50 million estimate) but it looks like they will just have to be happy with being ahead of “Star Trek” – for now.

And speaking of that far-superior blockbuster, look at JJ Abrams’ baby kick ass!  OK, I know that #2 isn’t as impressive as #1, but just look at the facts:  In week two “Star Trek” only fell off by about 43% for a weekend total of $43 million and a cumulative gross of nearly $150 million.  That’s what we call staying power.  I’m not going to comment on where this “Star Trek” might end up, relative to all of the other “Trek” films, box-office wise.  How you calculate that figure will depend on how you feel about the term “adjusted for inflation”.  I will tell you that if you do not adjust in this way, Abrams’ “Trek” is the most successful outing in the franchise’s history.  So let’s just leave it at that, shall we?

Not so lucky, in terms of a franchise-beating performance, is Fox’s “Wolverine.”  After three weeks in release the origin tale of the hirsute X-Man has barely bested its production budget of $150 million. A $200 million domestic take now looks nigh-on impossible for the Hugh Jackman flick.  “Wolverine” does move past $274 million when overseas box-office numbers are factored in, but for a really impressive overseas take look no further than this weekend’s number one movie.