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12 - The Michigan Daily - Monday, July 10, 2006

'Pirates' plunders box
office, sets record high

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Johnny Depp's boozy,
woozy buccaneer Jack Sparrow has plundered the
box office, with "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead
Man's Chest" taking in a record $132 million in
its first three days, according to studio estimates
ryesterday.
Disney's swashbuckling sequel sailed past the
previous all-time best debut, 2002's "Spider-Man,"
which took in $114.8 million in its first weekend.
"Dead Man's Chest" also did nearly three
times the business of its predecessor, "Pirates of
the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl,"
which took in $46.6 million over its opening
weekend in 2003.
The sequel surpassed that total in its first day
alone, taking in $55.5 million Friday to beat the
previous single-day record of $50 million, set last
year by "Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the
Sith." With $44.7 million on Saturday,"Dead Man's
Chest" also became the first movie to top $100 mil-
lion in just 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 $77 million debut
weekend of last spring's "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
$100 million, we'd be failures," Bruckheimer told
The Associated Press yesterday. "I didn't think
we'd get near these numbers."
The movie sent Hollywood's overall business
soaring. The top 12 films grossed $206.5 million,

up 48 percent from the same weekend last year,
when "Fantastic Four" opened with $56.1 million.
"Dead Man's Chest" raked in nearly double the
total of the rest of the top 12 combined. The previ-
ous weekend's top film, "Superman Returns," fell
to No.2 with $21.85 million, down 58 percent from
its opening weekend.
In a single weekend, "Dead Man's Chest" reeled
in 43 percent of the $305 million total domestic
gross the original "Pirates" rang up in its entire six-
month theatrical run.
The movie's audience was equally divided
between males and females, and it drew strongly
from all age groups, according to Disney.
"It is straight across the board," said Chuck
Viane, head of distribution for Disney, which based
the movies on its "Pirates of the Caribbean" theme
park ride. "Everybody's coming. Whoever itsis,
they're there."
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 installment at the same time as
"Dead Man's Chest," which ends in a cliffhanger
leading into part three, due in theaters over Memo-
rial Day weekend next year.
Final figures to confirm the record set by
"Pirates" will be released today.

Box office treasure: Top 10 weekends
'Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest"
$122mI.lon* (2006)
"Spider-Man" $114.8 million (2002)
"Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith' $108.4 million (2005)
'Shrek 2' $108 million (2004)
"X-Men: The Last Stand" $102.8 million (2006)
"Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" $102. 7 million (2005)
'Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" $93.7 million (2004)
'"The Matrix Reloaded' $91.8 million (2003)
"Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's
Stone' $90.3 mililon (2001)
'Harry Potter and the Chamber of
Secrets' $88.4 million (2002)
*Estimated
SOURCE:
BOXOFFICEMOJ.COM
GRAPHIC BY
BRIDGET O'DONNELL

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