..Gary Dretzka
..Leonard Klady
..David Poland
..Doug Pratt
..Ray Pride

July 9, 2006 Weekend Estimates Worldwide Grosses Domestic Market Share Yo, Ho, Ho and a Magnum of Dough! Wow! Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest debuted to a staggering $132.9 million and effectively rewrote the box office record book. The film's opening day gross of $55 million surpassed Star Wars: Episode III by roughly $5 million and its weekend was about $18 million better than that of former champ Spider-Man. Overall weekend revenues of more than $215 million also set a new benchmark. While the Pirates sequel was the only new title in national release, there were a number of platform and regional openers including the animated A Scanner Darkly and Le Secret de ma mere in Quebec that both opened well in limited exposure. By the time industry execs arrived at their offices Friday morning, news of a $9 million gross from 12:01 a.m. screenings had everyone's attention. The following morning's estimated $55 million for opening day pretty much set the stage for a new individual weekend record with initial estimates (based on Friday's performance) as high as $140 million. Casting aside the obvious brawny statistics, the singular achievement of the new movie is that it's the first seasonal event picture to exceed industry expectations. The folks at Disney were crossing fingers and toes in hopes that Dead Man's Chest would creep to $100 million in its first three days. The tacit mantra at ShoWest 2006 was that the major's summer release schedule was going to create a box office tsunami that would reinvigorate film going. However, beginning with Mission: Impossible III, title after title had opening salvos that spawned articles and chatter of below par performance. Leading up to the current weekend, this summer was running about 6% ahead of last year, behind the record 2004 summer, and about 1% better than 2005 admissions. Pirates is certainly an upturn in fortunes and if the few remaining seasonal heavyweights mirror its opening, the season will be more than salvaged. Internationally, the film was hearty but not foolhardy as it adopted the "let's not compete with World Cup fever" scenario adopted for the season. Apart from the United Kingdom, Pirates kept its distance with openings in Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan, Thailand and Korea that generated an estimated $46.6 million for the six territories. Individually, Britain was projecting a $25 million frame with Korea at $9 million and Australia at $8.2 million. The potency of the scurvy crew was reflected in hefty box office boosts of 40% from last weekend and 47% compared to 2005. A year ago the frame leader was the $56 million debut of Fantastic Four. It's difficult to assess Dead Man's Chest precise impact on holdover titles but simply put declines were steeper than usual but far from devastating commercial momentum. Superman Returns experienced a 55% drop while The Devil Wears Prada ebbed back by 45%. The all quadrant appeal of the swashbuckler was apparent, whether assessing business for Click or An Inconvenient Truth. The adaptation of the sci-fi tale A Scanner Darkly generated better than a $21,000 average from 17 initial engagements. Filmed traditionally and then animated provided the film with an appropriate other worldliness and very good initial box office. The family comedy-drama Le Secret de ma mere had a good start in Quebec of $232,000 at 87 theaters and the U.S. bow of Heading South (Vers le sud) had a potent $44,200 from its initial two engagements. - by Leonard Klady Weekend Estimates - July 7-9, 2006 Title Distributor Gross (average) % change Theaters Cume Pirates of Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest BV 132.9 (32,160) - 4133 132.9 Superman Returns WB 22.4 (5,500) -57% 4065