Pirates robs record at US box office

Johnny Depp (C) stands with Pirates' producer Jerry Bruckheimer (L) and Orlando Bloom. Picture / Reuters

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest has broken US box-office records, taking US$132 million ($216 million) in its first three days, say studio estimates.

Disney's swashbuckling sequel starring Johnny Depp sailed past the all-time best debut, 2002's Spider-Man, which raked in US$114.8 million in its first weekend.

Dead Man's Chest did nearly three times the business of its predecessor, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, which took in US$46.6 million over opening weekend in 2003.

The sequel surpassed that total in its first day alone, taking in US$55.5 million on Friday to beat the previous single-day record of US$50 million, set last year by Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith.

With US$44.7 million on Saturday, Dead Man's Chest also became the first movie to top US$100 million in two days.

Despite sky-high projections for the Pirates sequel from industry analysts, producer Jerry Bruckheimer said he had expected Dead Man's Chest to open closer to the US$77 million debut weekend of The Da Vinci Code.

"When people in the industry predicted these high numbers, I thought they were just trying to be mean. So no matter how good we did, if we did US$100 million, we'd be failures," said Bruckheimer. "I didn't think we'd get near these numbers."

The movie sent Hollywood's overall business soaring. The top 12 films grossed US$206.5 million, up 48 per cent from the same weekend last year, when Fantastic Four opened with US$56.1 million. Dead Man's Chest raked in nearly double the total of the rest of the top 12 combined.

The previous weekend's top film, Superman Returns, fell to number two with US$21.85 million, down 58 per cent from opening weekend.

In a single weekend, Dead Man's Chest reeled in 43 per cent of the US$305 million total domestic gross the original Pirates rang up in its six-month run.

Even factoring in higher admission prices since 2002, Dead Man's Chest still set a record of just under 20 million tickets sold, about 200,000 more than Spider-Man.

"Maybe the only movie that has a chance to beat this record might be the next Pirates movie," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box office tracker Exhibitor Relations.

Audiences won't have to wait long. Disney shot much of the third instalment at the same time as Dead Man's Chest, which ends in a cliffhanger leading into part three, due in cinemas next year.