"The Da Vinci Code" # 1

The controversial adaptation of Dan Brown's best-selling novel, "The Da Vinci Code" secured , the second-biggest debut ever at the global box office, its distributor said on Sunday.

The story of a Vatican cover-up involving Jesus Christ and his supposed offspring, sold about $77 million worth of tickets at movie theaters in the United States and Canada during its first three days, according to Columbia Pictures reports Reuters.

``I think Sony is popping a lot of champagne right now,'' Gitesh Pandya, editor of Boxofficeguru.com, said to Bloomberg.com. ``It proves that the built-in interest in the book superseded the opinions of the critics. There were millions of people who decided they were going to see this movie as soon as they heard it was being made.''

Box-office watchers had predicted a North American opening of between $50 million and $80 million. The biggest North American opening this year had been $68 million for "Ice Age: The Meltdown" seven weeks ago. But "The Da Vinci Code" numbers were still far from the $115 million record held by 2002's "Spider-Man."

"The Da Vinci Code" earned about $147 million overseas, the biggest international opening ever. The previous record was last year's "Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith" with $145 million, Columbia said.

The movie becomes the first big success in the opening weeks of the summer blockbuster season, after action flicks Poseidon and Mission Impossible III posted weaker starts in early May.

Dreamworks Animation SKG's ``Over the Hedge'' opened in second place with $37.2 million, missing analysts' estimates.

`Mission: Impossible III'' dropped to third place with $11 million after spending two weeks at No. 1. The film, which stars Tom Cruise as secret agent Ethan Hunt, is based on the 1960s and 1970s television program. The three ``Mission Impossible'' films have grossed more than $1 billion worldwide.

``Poseidon'' fell to fourth place from second in its second weekend with $9.2 million, according to Exhibitor Relations. The movie follows the story of a man, played by Josh Lucas, who leads a group of survivors through a ship after a freak wave capsizes it during a New Year's Eve party.

The Robin Williams comedy ``RV'' dropped to fifth place from third with $5.1 million. Williams plays a father who takes his family on a disastrous road trip. The film from Sony also stars Cheryl Hines and Jeff Daniels.