Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End sailed into the history books by setting a new Memorial Day weekend box office record and claiming the biggest worldwide opening in cinema history. The vfx-laden adventure flick from Jerry Bruckheimer Films took in an estimated $142 million domestically over the four-day period and made around $401 million worldwide in its first six days of release.
Directed by Gore Verbinski and featuring visual effects by ILM, the third Pirates installment easily broke the previous Memorial Day weekend record of $122.8 million set last year by 20th Century Fox’s X-Men: The Last Stand. It also surpassed the $382 million six-day opening of Sony/Columbia Pictures’ Spider-Man 3, which bowed in theaters earlier this month.
At World’s End grossed around $245 million overseas in the past six days, enjoying record-breaking openings in Korea ($18.4 million), Russia ($13.7 million), Spain ($11.6 million), Taiwan ($4.5 million) and the Netherlands ($2.8 million). It was also the highest-grossing U.S. production in Japan with $15.9 million and set new Walt Disney Studio records in the U.K. with $26.6 million, France with $17.7 million, Germany with $16.8 million and Australia with $9.9 million.
DreamWorks Animation’s Shrek the Third slipped to second place in its sophomore weekend but did remarkably well in the face of such a formidable opponent. The CG-animated comedy raked in approximately $69 million domestically over the three-day holiday period, bringing its North American gross to around $220 million. The pic has earned a estimated $22 million overseas and has yet to open in many key territories.
Spider-Man 3 finished the holiday weekend in third place with an estimated $18 million, bringing its domestic gross over the $300 million mark. Released in fewer than half the number of theaters showing the latest web-slinging adventure, Lionsgate Films’ modestly budgeted psychological horror thriller Bug managed to bring in around $4.2 million to land in fourth place, just ahead of Fox Searchlight’s critically acclaimed indie Waitress ($4 million).
Sony Pictures Classics’ release of the new anime thriller Paprika from Japanese filmmaker Satoshi Kon opened in just two theaters in New York and brought in a total of $45,600, $22,800 from each screen. The stellar performance bodes well for this weekend’s Los Angeles opening and its gradual rollout in other parts of the country.
