Yo-Ho, Yo-Ho

Expect "Pirates" to break more records--so says Entertainment Weekly's Joshua Rich His prediction: "Dead Man's Chest" (No. 1 again -- duh!) will top $200 mil and have the best second weekend of all time

Ben Fritz and Dave McNary of Variety see it much the same way...

"Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" will test its sea legs this weekend, while "Superman Returns" gets a big chance to fly overseas.

"Pirates" will almost certainly break the one week B.O. record of $192.1 million held by "Spider-Man 2" and move past $250 million by Sunday -- six-day cume was $184 million on Wednesday. Only question now is whether the sequel will have a long run that brings it into the $400 million-plus or even $500 million-plus B.O. stratosphere.

Pic has set records nearly every day this week, and it's seeing weekday declines better than those of other blockbuster openers, such as both "Spider-Man" films, the "Star Wars" prequels, "Shrek 2" and the "Harry Potter" pics. If "Pirates" drops less than 47%, it will break the all-time second weekend record of $72.2 million held by "Shrek 2."

With some 30 million tickets sold already, Johnny Depp starrer will have to quickly start mustering repeat business to maintain its momentum.

Frame's openers are "You, Me and Dupree" and "Little Man," which will most likely compete for No. 2 in the high teens or 20s.

After a two-week domestic run that has brought its cume to $149.6 million, "Superman Returns" opens this weekend in most key international markets, where Warner Bros. had been holding off due to the World Cup...

"Dead Man's Chest" has taken in $66.4 million overseas through Wednesday in a total of seven markets, including the U.K., Australia and South Korea. Over half that haul is from Blighty, where the movie's grossed a boffo $35.3 million...

Back at home, "You, Me and Dupree" will be the first test for Owen Wilson as the primary star of a comedy. His two biggest bows, "Wedding Crashers" and "Starsky and Hutch," which opened to $33.9 million and $28.6 million, respectively, co-starred Vince Vaughn and Ben Stiller, respectively. A somewhat more modest bow for "Dupree," which hits 3,132 playdates, looks likely...

I saw "Pirates 2" last night and thought it was as good as the first film. I would even go so far as to say it's the best movie of Summer '06. No really...A full Pirates review will be forthcoming.