Dave McNary and Ian Mohr of Variety
The buccaneers have started raking in the gold as they look to outpace Spidey with "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" launches around the world amid sky-high expectations.
The third "Pirates" kicked off Wednesday in nine markets with France generating an impressive $3 million at 783 play dates, based on 426,000 first-day admissions. Disney's refusing to release any figures until Saturday -- unlike Sony's strategy to announce the early "Spider-Man 3" numbers from foreign markets three weeks ago.
Johnny Depp Returns As Capt. Jack Sparrow In Pirates 3
The French launch is 43% less than the first-day admissions number for "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" last Aug. 2. But the earlier first-day number - 750,000 -- came amid summer holidays in France on its way to grossing $46 million.
Lofty forecasts for the third "Pirates" have been goosed by the record-setting numbers woven by "Spider-Man 3" along with the $1.06 billion worldwide gross last year from "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" - joining "Titanic" and "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" as the only films to crack the billion-dollar mark.
Key question will be whether the third time's the charm for Disney, just as it was for Sony three weeks ago when "Spider-Man 3" set opening records, led by $382 million worldwide. The eye-popping number broke down to $151 million domestically (which broke the "Pirates 2" record by $12 million) and $231 million internationally ($76 million ahead of the mark set by "The Da Vinci Code").
Domestically, Disney will send its latest "Pirates" voyage to 4,362 theaters, marking widest North American opening ever. That figure's 109 larger than the 4,252 locations that Spidey swung into earlier in the month.
"Pirates" looks primed to breeze past Fox's "X-Men: The Last Stand," which racked up $122.8 million last year as the biggest ever extended Memorial Day weekend bow.
Mouse House is giving its "Pirates" a head start Thursday night with U.S. showtimes beginning at 8 p.m., rather than the usual midnight screenings that would add coin into "Pirates" weekend cume. Disney distribution topper Chuck Viane said the decision to add the Thursday 8 p.m. shows was made to appease the wide range of exhibitors champing at the bit for the pic.
"We got a lot of pressure from exhibitors to do something special," said the exec. "So this is what we chose because midnight shows are tied into urban centers. This way, any small town theater owner can get in on 'Pirates' mania." Viane added that some theaters will be screening "Pirates" round the clock beginning Thursday night at 8 p.m. and through Friday's midnights shows.
Brass inside Disney has been saying that their foremost goal is to beat out last year's "X-Men" pic and post the biggest ever Memorial Day haul. It remains to be seen whether the new "Pirates" can surpass "Spider-Man"'s recent record as the biggest three-day weekend of all time, with $151.1 million.
One hurdle in "Pirates"' path to the record books is the pic's running time: Clocking in at about 165 minutes, the pic will see less runs over the weekend than the relatively short "Shrek." But the massive screen count for "At World's End" should ease that burden.
Paramount and DreamWorks, meantime, will try to battle "Pirates" in their second weekend for "Shrek the Third," which landed in its first frame as the biggest animated opening of all time, as well as the biggest ever PG pic and third highest grossing film ever. It had gone past $144 million domestically as of Wednesday; Par's held off releasing the third "Shrek" to most international markets until next month.
The "Pirates" voyage should get the summer B.O. on to a torrid pace with "At World's End," "Shrek" and "Spider-Man" occupying the top three slots in the charts this weekend. "Spider-Man 3" should still have some gas in the tank for its fourth frame even though it's hit $288 million domestically and $760 million worldwide as of Wednesday....
Joshua Rich of Entertainment Weekly asks:
Just how much treasure will ''Pirates 3'' plunder?
I have to say, even though, I loved the first two films in the series, I am not as gung ho for this latest chapter as I should be. After all, the biggest cliffhanger left over from the last one--Does Capt Jack survive?--Of course he does as seen in the trailers. Knowing that going in, why should I spend money for a tickets--when I have nothing else pulling me to go see the film. Its running time (at 2 hours 45 minutes) is a killer. Is there really that much story left to tell? Another bloated sequel?
Next Week: Movie-goers get Knocked Up and Mr. Brooks enters the fray...
Hey
ReplyDeleteI think we knew that captin jack sparrow would survive. Even before we saw the sneek peek of the movie. I can not wait to see this movie. It is going to be sooooooo cool. I think!! Have you seen any good movies lately??
Allison