‘Angels’ U.S. opening may not be so heavenly

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There’s a lot less mystery surrounding ‘Angels and Demons’ than ‘The Da Vinci Code.’

Pre-release tracking indicates that Sony Pictures’ second film based on a Dan Brown novel about symbologist Robert Langdon and a Catholic Church conspiracy will open between $55 million and $60 million.

That’s significantly less than the $77-million domestic launch of ‘The Da Vinci Code’ on the same weekend three years ago. Given ‘Angels’’ higher budget -- $150 million compared with $125 million -- Sony must be doing a lot of praying.

But the ‘Angels’ book -- which came out before ‘Da Vinci’ even though the film is a sequel -- sold 39 million copies compared with ‘Da Vinci’s’ 81 million. Perhaps more significantly, there has been much less controversy surrounding the new film. While the Catholic League is again protesting it, there has been nothing like the crisis-level p.r. headwinds that swirled around ‘Code’ when it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2006.

Sony has been positioning its new film as an adult thriller, which has proved to be a weak genre so far in 2009. Similar movies including ‘State of Play,’ ‘Duplicity’ and ‘The International’ have all performed poorly, though none had the cachet of ‘Angels’’ source material, star Tom Hanks or director Ron Howard.

‘Da Vinci’ ultimately generated a healthy $217 million in ticket sales domestically, but the big money came from overseas, where it made $540.7 million, more than 75% of its total gross. ‘Angels and Demons’ will sell most of its tickets in foreign markets as well. It premieres in 97 countries -- every major market except Mexico and China -- and while reliable tracking across all those markets is impossible, it’s expected to gross more than $100 million by Sunday. ‘The Da Vinci Code’ grossed a then-record-setting $152.6 million internationally on its opening weekend.

‘I do think foreign markets are going to be the sweet spot overall,’ said Sony’s worldwide distribution president Rory Bruer. ‘Proportionately speaking, it should perform similarly.’

Overseas will prove especially important for ‘Angels’ since it will face strong competition domestically from the second weekend of ‘Star Trek,’ which could drop less than 50% -- a small decline for big budget action flicks. Weekday grosses, the first indication of audience coming out of an opening weekend, have been very healthy. Monday through Wednesday ‘Star Trek’ grossed $19.8 million. By contrast, ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’ took in $14 million its first three weekdays, despite its $85-million opening weekend.

Also debuting Friday is the low-budget indie comedy ‘Management’ starring Jennifer Aniston. Samuel Goldwyn Films is opening the movie, which was financed by Sidney Kimmel Entertainment, at 212 theaters.

-- Ben Fritz