`Pirates’ Sequel Repeats as Weekend’s Top Film With $35 Million
“Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest'' was the top movie for the third weekend in a row, bringing in an estimated $35.0 million in ticket sales for Walt Disney Co.
“Pirates,'' starring Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow, has grossed $321.7 million since it opened July 7, film-tracker Exhibitor Relations Co. said today in a statement. The movie's $135.6 million debut set opening-day, two-day and weekend records.
The Disney film has helped boost ticket sales and attendance this year well ahead of last year, when sales fell 5.2 percent, the biggest drop in two decades. Sales this year are up 7 percent to $5.24 billion over the same period last year. Attendance has increased 3.8 percent, according to Exhibitor Relations.
“Pirates'' passed $300 million on its 16th day in theaters, passing the previous 17-day record of the 2005 film “Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith,'' according to Exhibitor Relations.
“Pirates'' returns the cast of the original, including co- stars Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley. In the sequel, characters played by Bloom and Knightley must interrupt their wedding plans to help save Sparrow from an eternity in servitude to supernatural sea captain Davy Jones.