Monday, July 10, 2006

Pirates Breaks Opening Weekend Record!

Source: Comingsoon.net

Walt Disney Pictures' highly-anticipated Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, starring Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley and Bill Nighy, broke Spider-Man's ($114.8 million) four-year-old opening weekend record with a massive $132 million from 4,133 theaters, the fourth-widest release ever. The movie made $55.5 million on Friday (the biggest single day and opening day in box office history, surpassing Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith ($50 million)), $44.7 million on Saturday (the fifth-biggest single day) and $31.8 million on Sunday, for an average of $31,944 per theater for the weekend. If estimates hold, this means that Dead Man's Chest crossed the $100 million mark in two days, which has never been done before - the previous fastest time was three days. Produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and directed by Gore Verbinski, the movie cost about $225 million to make. The third installment, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, hits theaters on May 25, 2007.

The big opening for Pirates caused Warner Bros.' Superman Returns to drop 58.4% in ticket sales, for a second weekend take of $21.9 million. The Bryan Singer-directed comic book adaptation, made for $260 million, has reached $141.7 million in 12 days.

In third place, 20th Century Fox's The Devil Wears Prada earned another impressive $15.6 million in its second weekend, pushing its total to $63.7 million in just two weeks. The comedy, starring Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway, cost $35 million to make.

Adam Sandler comedy Click collected $12 million for the fourth spot and has earned a total of $105.9 million in three weeks.

Disney/Pixar's animated-comedy Cars held up well in its fifth week, earning $10.3 million for a total of $205.5 million.

In limited release, Richard Linklater's A Scanner Darkly, with Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder, Robert Downey Jr. and Woody Harrelson, garnered $406,000 from just 17 theaters, for an average of $23,882 per location.