Box-Office Weekend Review: Pirates friend or foe?

By Scott Rosenberg Jul 24, 2006, 4:44 GMT

I wish Hollywood would make up its mind – do they love pirates or are pirates the bane of the industry’s existence?

MPAA screams that pirates cause an enormous drain on box-office revenues but then everyone sings the praise of  ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest’ which just became the first summer movie in five years to spend three weeks at number one.

(Just kidding of course about pirates: we know Orlando Bloom and Johnny Depp pirates are good- those that copy intellectual property pirates are bad!)

Dead Man’s Chest grossed an estimated $35.5 million bringing its 17 day run to $321.7 million. Dead Man has already passed the first in the franchise, Curse of the Black Pearl which grossed $305 million its entire run.

Dead Man also passed the $300 million plateau one day faster than ‘Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith.

Chuck Viane, president of Disney’s Buena Vista Distribution said, “To get the $300 million record is truly one of those records you cherish, and it puts you in very good company. There's no question that people are going a second or third time. But when a movie seeps its way into the public consciousness, you are getting people who might be hearing about it from their neighbors - people who might only see two or three movies a year."

Otherwise, it was a ho-hum weekend at the movies.

Of the four new releases, second-place ‘Monster House’ out-performed M. Night Shyamalan's latest mystery ‘Lady in the Water,’ the sequel ‘Clerks II’ and the comedy ‘My Super Ex-Girlfriend.’

"Monster," debuted in second place with a better-than-expected $23 million, with $2.6 million of that total from 3-D presentations of the film, according to estimates from Sony Pictures Entertainment. Not a good omen for a retro technology studios are hoping will bring more folks in the front door of theaters.

Third place ‘Lady in the Water’ saw demons with only a $18.2 million take. Critics had bashed the movie and Disney had trashed the movie only to have it picked up by the WB.

Holdover comedies ‘You, Me and Dupree’ and ‘Little Man’ took fourth and fifth place, respectively. "Dupree" added $12.8 million for a two-week total of $45.3 million, while "Man" earned an estimated $11 million for a 10-day total of $40.6 million.

New openers, ‘Clerks II’ (in sixth place at $9.6 million) and ‘My Super Ex-Girlfriend in seventh with $8.7 million.

Fox’s "Ex-Girlfriend," starrring Uma Thurman and Luke Wilson played in far more theaters than ‘Clerks II,’ 2,702 vs. 2,150 but made less.