Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest continued to plunder box office booty over the weekend, earning another $62.2 million, according to estimates. Despite seeing a drop of approximately 54% in its second week, the swashbuckling adventure flick has taken in around $258.2 million, breaking the ten-day record set by 20th Century Fox’s Star Wars: Episode II: Revenge of the Sith with $236.9. Pirates scored the third highest second weekend behind DreamWorks’ Shrek 2 and Sony’s Spider-Man.
Sony/Revolution’s Little Man and Universal’s You, Me and Dupree both enjoyed respectable openings but proved to be lightweight competition for Pirates with just over $21 million apiece. The comedies are running a tight race for second place, which will be decided when actuals are calculated.
Last week’s second-place holder, Warner Bros.’ Superman Returns, dropped to No. 4 with an estimated $11.6 million in its fourth week. The superhero pic hasn’t quite hit the highs expected by the studio, which pumped a reported $260 million into bringing back the Man of Steel. The film has been opening well overseas, however, picking up $35.8 million from foreign markets to help put it near the $200 million worldwide mark.
Warner Independent Pictures’ A Scanner Darkly continues to perform well in limited release. Despite being out in only 216 theaters, the rotoscope-animated Philip K. Dick adaptation managed a top-10 finish this weekend, coming in at tenth place with nearly $1.2 million.
Sony’s mo-cap Monster House had sold-out sneak peek screenings at more than 700 theaters over the weekend. The film, which has been garnering rave reviews from the nation’s leading critics, opens on Friday. Based on critical response, the film just may emerge from the shadow of Disney/Pixar’s Cars and DreamWorks’ Over the Hedge to become the top animated film of the year. However, it will have to deal with some animated competition when Warner Bros.’ The Ant Bully arrives in theaters on July 28 and Paramount/Nickelodeon’s Barnyard opens on August 5.
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