'X-Men' cracks 'Da Vinci Code' at box office

LOS ANGELES, May 29 (Reuters) The final film in the ''X-Men'' superhero trilogy blew past last weekend's box office champ, ''The Da Vinci Code,'' to post the fourth-highest all-time opening in North America.

''X-Men: The Last Stand'' sold about 7 million worth of tickets in the three-day period from Friday to Sunday, said distributor 20th Century Fox. The News Corp.-owned studio said it hoped the film would open near the million bow of its 2003 predecessor ''X2: X-Men United,''studio estimates issued yesterday said.

By contrast, ''Da Vinci'' opened with 77 million dollars a week ago, the highest bow so far this year. The Vatican conspiracy thriller slipped to No. 2, but sales data were not available as most studios were planning to report estimates for the U S Memorial Day holiday weekend today.

However, ''Da Vinci Code'' distributor Columbia Pictures said the film earned 92 million dollars in most foreign territories, and enjoyed strong holds in such countries as Germany and Japan.

The international total stands at 320 million dollars . As of Thursday evening, the film had earned 102 million dollars in North America.

Columbia, a unit of Sony Corp, said its film earned more overseas than ''X-Men,'' which also opened internationally on Friday, but neither Columbia nor Fox had any foreign data for the new arrival.

The three-day record for a film opening on a Friday is held by 2002's ''Spider-Man'' (115 million dollars), followed by 2005's ''Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith (108.4 million dollars) and 2004's ''Shrek 2'' (108 million dollars).

Fox said ''X-Men: The Last Stand'' cost about 165 million to make. The studio licensed the comic book franchise from Marvel Entertainment Inc. The first film in the series, ''X-Men'' opened to 54 million dollars in 2000, and went on to earn 157 million dollars. The sequel finished with 215 million dollars.

The new film, whose returning cast of mutants includes Hugh Jackman as the heroic Wolverine and Ian McKellen as the evil Magneto, was directed by Brett Ratner, best known for the ''Rush Hour'' films. It had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival last week, and earned rave reviews -- unlike ''Da Vinci Code.'' In addition to taking over from ''Da Vinci'' as the highest opening so far this year, the new ''X-Men'' beats the nine-year-old Memorial Day weekend record held by ''The Lost World: Jurassic Park,'' which opened to 72 million dollars during its first three days. Steven Spielberg's dinosaur picture earned an additional 18 million dollars during the Monday holiday.

Projections for the four-day period will be released today, and final data tomorrow.

Viacom Inc's Paramount Pictures said it took the No. 3 and No 4 places with the barnyard cartoon ''Over the Hedge'' (27.3 million dollars) and the Tom Cruise thriller ''Mission: Impossible III'' (6.6 million dollars), respectively. Their totals rose to 85.3 million dollars after two weeks and 115.5 million dollars after four weeks, respectively.

REUTERS VJ RN0429