Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End walks the plank opening day

By Scott Rosenberg May 27, 2007, 11:18 GMT

Johnny Depp returns as Captain Jack Sparrow along with Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth Swann (Kiera Knightley). Pirates of the Caribbean: World\'s End, the spot on the map that remains undiscovered, the area where charted waters disappear and sailors are forced to deal with the,well, the world\'s end. According to maritine legend, the world\'s end is where you\'ll find all sorts of giant monsters and devious dangers. ...more

Opening at 4,362 theaters (over 11,000 screens), POC3 pulled in an estimated $43 million, about 73% of entire domestic box-office take at its opening day (including $3 million it took in from Thursday midnight screenings).

This puts Buena Vista’s swashbucklers in fifth place in overall opening box-office, at world’s end from Spider-Man 3’s opening day at $59.8 million (4,252 theaters) but it did beat Paramount Dreamworks ‘Shrek the Third which opened at $38.4 million at 4,122 theaters.

Last July, predecessor Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest grabbed a then-record $55.8 million its first day, which included about $9 million from midnight showings.

"We knew by putting shows early it would take away from the opening day," said Chuck Viane, ruling out the possibility of breaking Spider-Man 3's $151.1 million opening weekend record. "Today [Saturday] is the key to how we're going to do."

Viane feels that POC3 is on track to break the biggest Memorial Day weekend opening, X-Men: The Last Stand is the title holder opening at $122.9 million over its four day start.

Overseas, POC3  pulled in an estimated $43.1 million from a global 102 territories on Friday, lifting its foreign cumulative to $84.2 million since Wednesday. Factor the domestic gross, and the worldwide tally stands at $141.2 million.

And just for the records, second place opening day goes to POC: Dead Man’s Chest at $55.8 million at 4,133 theaters while third and fourth place go to Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith ($50 million – 3,661 theaters) and X-Men: The Last Stand ($45.1-3,690) respectively.