Box Office Review: Superman walks the plank while Pirates soar

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By Scott Rosenberg Jul 9, 2006, 23:19 GMT

As anticipated, Superman was overcome at the box-office this past weekend not by Kryptonite, but by Disney’s ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl’.

Dropping 58 percent form opening weekend, Warner’s ‘Superman Returns’ pulled in 21.9 million for a take of $141.7 million in 12 days—the picture's 3-D IMAX theaters gross was down only 27 percent and accounted for ten percent of the weekend gross. Dan Fellman, head of distribution for Warner Bros., is not concerned saying "'Superman Returns' should fly past the $200 million mark." The big winner of the weekend and possibly the year was Dead Man’s Chest. Starting out with a $55 million opening day which beat the previous single-day record set in 2005 of $50 million by ‘Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith’.With $44.7 million on Saturday, Dead Man’s Chest surged past the ‘blockbuster’ line of $100 million in just its second day of release with an estimated $132 million take the entire weekend.Dead Man’s Chest swat Spiderman’s opening weekend milestone in 2002 of $114.8 million atop the all time chart.Dead Man’s Chest, the second in the Pirates franchise did nearly three times the business of "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl," which took in $46.6 million its opening weekend in 2003.Pirates 2 opened on 8500 screens in 4,133 theaters, the third widest opening ever, behind Spiderman’s 7,500 screens (3,615 theaters) and 2004's "Shrek 2" (4163 theaters).Chuck Viane, Buena Vista's president of distribution noted that Dead Man's Chest appealed across all demographic groups, including an equal gender split."There wasn't a category that stood out," Viane said. "It was just a total blend." The studio's exit polling indicated that the audience's assessment was on par with the original with 92 percent rating Dead Man's Chest "excellent" or "very good," and pollster CinemaScore backed that up with an "A-" rating.The first seven international markets where "Dead Man's Chest" bowed were Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, the U.K. and Uruguay. "Pirates" is head-to-head with "Superman Returns" in all those markets except the U.K. and Uruguay.Then, next weekend, it opens in Holland, Malaysia, the Philippines, Russia, Scandinavia and Singapore. On the weekend of July 21, it goes into Brazil, Mexico and Japan and then launches in Germany on July 28, followed by France on the next weekend.Pirates 3, At World's End, which was in production simultaneously with Dead Man's Chest will release Memorial Day weekend, (May 25) 2007. Combined, the Pirates sequels reportedly will cost $450 million to produce.The sci-fi tale of drug addiction "A Scanner Darkly" debuted strongly in limited release with $406,000 in 17 theaters. Shot in live action then painted over with digital animation, the movie stars Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder and Robert Downey Jr. Fox’s ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ in its second week took in $15.6 million taking its total run from 2,882 locations to $63.7 million.Sony’s Adam Sandlar starer, ‘Click’ took in an additional $12 million for total take of $105.9 million in its third week.And running out of gas was Buena Vista’s release of ‘Cars’ taking in $10.3 million from 3,379 locations for a total cum of$205.5 million

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Box Office Review: Superman walks the plank while Pirates soar

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