The World's Most Gullible Country Contest

Who fell the hardest for the dopey yet soporific movie version of "The Da Vinci Code?"

Because "The Da Vinci Code" was released almost simultaneously around the world, it's relatively simple to calculate which countries blew more of their available money on this nonsense. All we have to do is compare the film's box office haul through its first two weekends across 56 countries versus each country's Gross Domestic Product to award the coveted title of the Nation Most Easy to Fleece.

The four most credulous countries, finishing in a near dead heat, turn out to be Iceland, Denmark, South Korea, and Hong Kong. Each spent about 90 percent more than North America on "Da Vinci Code" tickets relative to their GDPs. Then come Spain, New Zealand, Bolivia, Greece, Mexico, Australia, and the UK, all spending at least an index of 157 where the US/Canada (the "domestic market" for movies) is 100.

The least credulous country of all those reporting box office revenue was Nigeria, which spent only $38,000 on "DVC" tickets out of a GDP of $99,000,000,000. Nigerian skepticism should come as no surprise to anyone who has been reading their emails. Nigerians have been making up more plausible stories than "The Da Vinci Code" for years: you know, the ones beginning, "I am the unrecognized natural child of the deposed God-Emperor Mbubu." Nigerians want us to send them money in return for their storytelling creativity. They're not going to send us their money if the best we can come up with is "The Da Vinci Code."

	Box Office	GDP ($000,000s)	Index (USA=100)
Iceland	$307,040	$15,823	194
Denmark	$5,005,521	259,746	192
South Korea	$15,528,417	793,070	190
Hong Kong	$3,465,896	177,723	190
Spain	$20,308,285	1,126,565	180
New Zealand	$1,948,658	108,547	175
Bolivia	$167,713	9,650	169
Greece	$3,792,654	222,878	165
Mexico	$12,738,651	768,437	165
Australia	$11,926,792	707,992	164
UK	$34,758,614	2,201,473	157
Argentina	$2,803,734	181,662	150
Philippines	$1,442,423	97,653	144
Chile	$1,664,528	113,956	142
Colombia	$1,724,349	122,269	141
Estonia	$183,693	13,108	140
Peru	$1,114,753	78,576	138
Ecuador	$453,896	33,062	137
Austria	$4,084,812	307,036	133
Singapore	$1,602,984	117,882	132
Italy	$23,047,364	1,766,160	130
Latvia	$214,109	16,648	128
Uruguay	$202,773	15,926	127
Brazil	$9,913,631	792,683	125
Portugal	$2,338,326	183,436	124
Poland	$3,644,095	300,533	121
Hungary	$1,311,955	109,483	117
Lithuania	$300,073	25,726	116
Switzerland	$4,352,165	367,513	115
Norway	$3,371,951	296,017	114
Sweden	$4,006,921	358,819	111
Belgium	$4,328,489	372,091	111
Bulgaria	$294,070	26,719	110
Slovenia	$361,842	34,030	103
Venezuela	$1,367,886	132,848	103
Germany	$29,230,591	2,797,343	102
US / Canada	$136,513,000	13,615,933	100
Thailand	$1,706,574	168,774	98
Turkey	$3,496,924	362,461	96
France	$21,118,166	2,105,864	95
Croatia	$364,806	37,553	94
Taiwan	$3,199,142	346,141	90
Finland	$1,682,430	193,491	87
Serbia	$220,899	26,215	82
Holland	$4,999,313	625,271	78
Czech Rep.	$969,479	123,603	76
Slovakia	$328,676	46,763	68
Israel	$846,502	123,526	67
Malaysia	$882,356	130,796	66
Kenya	$121,635	19,184	63
Japan	$31,768,272	4,571,314	76
South Africa	$1,248,316	239,144	52
China	$10,112,637	2,224,811	45
Indonesia	$1,026,607	276,004	37
Romania	$304,600	98,566	31
Nigeria	$37,878	99,147	4

Overall, "The Da Vinci Code" has been a smash overseas, making $317 million through its first two weekends versus only $137 million in the US and Canada (which are combined into the "domestic market.")

It's striking how little difference there is in the Index figures around the world. You might think that, say, Venezuela, Germany, North America, and Thailand are culturally quite dissimilar and thus would likely react quite differently to "The Da Vinci Code." Yet they each spent almost an identical amount to see the film, relative to the size of their economies. It's a testament to globalization, although it's hard to avoid the phrase "lowest common denominator." A future in which everybody around the world rushes out to see the same new Hollywood tripe on the same day strikes me as a little dreary.

Notes: I somewhat arbitrarily adjusted the Index to account for the slightly different opening dates (e.g., Wednesday May 17 in France [multiplying revenue by .9545], Thursday May 18 in Germany [multiplying revenue by .975], Friday May 19 in America [leaving revenue the same], or Saturday May 20 in Japan [multiplying revenue by 1.1]). The last date included for each country was Sunday May 28. Countries with only one weekend reporting, such as India and Russia, were excluded. All revenue figures came from www.BoxOfficeMojo.com .

For more on "The Da Vinci Code," see my analysis of "DVC, Women, and Catholicism."

And here are excerpts from my review of the movie in The American Conservative: first and second.

My published articles are archived at iSteve.com -- Steve Sailer