Disney’s ‘Pirates’ creates new box office records

Walt Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest opened on 7 July to a record $132 million in its first three days at the North American box-office, shattering the record previously held by Sony’s Spider-Man, which opened to $114.8 million.

The movie has set new benchmarks as it is the biggest opening weekend in Hollywood history and also the biggest opening day on Friday with collections of $55.5 million.

In India, the film will hit the big screens on 21 July.

It is also bigger than the four day opening weekend record holders – X-Men: The Last Stand, (grossed $122.9 million) and Spider-Man 2, (grossed $115.8 million in four days last summer).

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest is also the first film in history to cross the $100 million mark in just two days and is Disney’s biggest opening, surpassing The Incredibles, which had garnered $70.5 million in three days.

The movie also led the way in the UK with a $25 million debut and grossed $9 million from South Korea and $8.2 million from Australia.

Buena Vista (the theatrical distribution arm of Walt Disney) attributes the success of Dead Man’s Chest to the mass appeal it had with male and female audiences of all ages.

Dead Man’s Chest reunites the cast and crew of the Curse of the Black Pearl including Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley, director Gore Verbinski, and producer Jerry Bruckheimer.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl opened in 2003 to $46.6 million over the weekend and $70.6 million over five days, leading to a huge $305.4 million mark domestically (US and Canada) and $654 million worldwide.

 

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