'Da Vinci Code' tops world box office for 5th straight week

LOS ANGELES: "The Da Vinci Code," the film based on Dan Brown's best-selling novel, topped the world's box office for a fifth straight week, raking in some 680 million dollars in ticket sales, the industry daily Variety reported Monday.   

The US blockbuster generated 20 million dollars at the box office last weekend, five million in North America and the rest around the globe, Variety said.   

Directed by Ron Howard and produced on a 125-million-dollar budget, Sony Pictures's controversial conspiracy tale of the supposed marriage of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene has barreled past poor reviews from critics to become the world's biggest-selling film this year, ahead of the animated "Ice Age: The Meltdown".   

Starring Tom Hanks and Audrey Tatou, the "Code" is faring better overseas than in the United States and Canada, where its combined ticket sales climbed to 198.5 million dollars by the end of the weekend, 17 million dollars less than "X-Men 3: The Last Stand" of rival 20th Century Fox.   

Week five was particularly tough on the box office in general as films competed for attention with the opening of the World Cup, Variety noted.