Pirates sails to 3rd weekend win at box office; 17-day take hits $321.7 million
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at 15:20 on July 23, 2006, EST.
By DAVID GERMAIN

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Johnny Depp and his pirate friends are keeping all the box-office treasure for themselves.

Depp's Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest remained the top movie for the third straight weekend, hauling in $35 million and lifting its total to $321.7 million after just 17 days, according to studio estimates Sunday.

The Disney sequel passed the $305 million domestic total that its predecessor, 2003's Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, rang up during its entire six-month run.

Dead Man's Chest easily beat back a rush of new movies, led by Sony's family film Monster House, a spooky animated tale that debuted at No. 2 with $23 million. The movie follows the adventures of a group of children at a mysterious neighbour's scary home.

Opening in third was M. Night Shyamalan's Lady in the Water, an adult fairy tale from Warner Bros. that took in $18.2 million. Starring Paul Giamatti as an apartment manager who discovers a water nymph (Bryce Dallas Howard) living beneath his complex's swimming pool, the movie was the weakest debut for writer-director Shyamalan in a string of wide releases since 1999 that included the blockbusters The Sixth Sense and Signs.

Kevin Smith's Clerks II, a Weinstein Co. and MGM follow-up to his 1994 independent-film hit about two slackers on the job, premiered at No. 6 with $9.6 million.

Uma Thurman and Luke Wilson's My Super Ex-Girlfriend, a 20th Century Fox comedy about a superhero taking revenge against the boyfriend who jilted her, debuted at No. 7 with $8.7 million.

Overall movie business rose, with the top 12 movies taking in $143.2 million, up 11 per cent from the same weekend last year, when Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was the No. 1 movie with $28.3 million.

Hollywood continued its modest rebound after a 2005 slump in which movie attendance fell eight per cent from the previous year. So far this year, attendance is up 3.8 per cent compared with 2005, according to box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations.

Summer attendance had been running slightly behind 2005's but now is four per cent ahead because of a surge the last three weekends.

"That's really attributable to the strength of Pirates of the Caribbean, because that's when the tide turned," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Exhibitor Relations.

On its 16th day of release Saturday, Dead Man's Chest became the fastest movie to cross the $300-million mark, beating the previous best pace of 17 days set last year by Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith.

Within a week, Dead Man's Chest is expected to top the $339.7 million domestic take of Finding Nemo to become Disney's top-grossing movie.

"There are lots of plateaus for us to continue to strive for," said Chuck Viane, Disney's head of distribution.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theatres, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. Final figures will be released Monday.

1. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, $35 million.

2. Monster House, $23 million.

3. Lady in the Water, $18.2 million.

4. You, Me and Dupree, $12.8 million.

5. Little Man, $11 million.

6. Clerks II, $9.6 million.

7. My Super Ex-Girlfriend, $8.7 million.

8. Superman Returns, $7.46 million.

9. The Devil Wears Prada, $7.43 million.

10. Cars, $4.9 million.


©The Canadian Press, 2006

clerksII..9 mill, only cost 6mill to make..a nice profit!.,..(sigh..I wish more people would have gone to see it)...

Pirates is so successful cause Orlando Bloom is in it...who would wanna see that pirate actor guy?

an interesting take on the movie business by Kevin Smith in today's "my boring ass life'...http://www.silentbobspeaks.com/
The Aftermath
Sunday 23 July 2006 @ 9:14 pm

Friday, on the subject of “Clerks II” the Hollywood Report wrote “Bowing in 2,150 theaters, the R-rated film is likely to open in the $10 million range.”

The other main industry trade, Variety, wrote that we did “$11 million for ‘Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back’ on its first weekend in 2001. ‘Clerks II’ bow will likely be close to that.”

Today, at the close of our debut weekend, the word is as follows…

Reuters writes “Kevin Smith’s ‘Clerks II’ was No. 6 with $9.6 million, broadly in line with expectations.”

USA Today writes “Among the other newcomers, ‘Clerks II’ did a respectable $9.6 million for sixth…”

Box Office Guru says “Fans showed support for Kevin Smith whose comedy sequel ‘Clerks II’ debuted in sixth place with an estimated $9.6M from 2,150 theaters. Averaging a good $4,477 per site”

Len Klady at Movie City News writes “Additionally, ‘Clerks II’ ranked sixth with a passable $9.8 million”

And Variety writes that we “debuted with a lukewarm $9.6 million”

“In line with expectations.” “Respectable.” “Good.” “Passable.” “Lukewarm.” Not exactly enthusiastic buzzwords - more like the way any woman who’s ever been goodly enough to sleep with me has reviewed my cocksmanship.

I’m not gonna try to spin it for you: we’d have liked to have opened better, naturally.

And yet, I’m happy.

Let’s get the business stuff out of the way first…

Once again, in what’s been termed by some box office analysts as the “Star Trek”-Effect, we saw good Friday numbers dip on Saturday. Essentially, the hardest of hardcore fans show up in full-force on opening day, inflating the returns slightly, leaving Saturday to drop rather than enjoy the standard jump most flicks enjoy on the same day. So while it would’ve been nice to have done our best opening weekend ever with “Clerks II” (that 11 million “Strike Back” bar didn’t seem all that high to reach on Friday night), alas, it’s number six for us.

I can’t find anything to complain about; I mean, we nearly doubled our budget in the opening weekend. And while there were marketing costs (prints and advertising) beyond the negative cost ($5mil production budget) , they were pretty modest (indeed, we spent far less opening “Clerks II” than we did to open “Strike Back”). The flick should manage to get to $20 - $25mil theatrically, and eke out a minor theatrical profit, leaving all the DVD loot as total windfall.

In essence, we took the “Strike Back” paradigm, plugged in different, lower numbers, and are seeing pretty much the same results. But since “Strike Back” was a pretty profitable endeavor when all was said and done, “Clerks II” will be even moreso (a twenty million dollar budget vs. the five million dollar budget). Financially, it’ll be a winner for all involved.

But box office is a fleeting, opening weekend concern (which, yes, is easy to say when your box office isn’t big-tittied). What has been the non-financial upside of “Clerks II”?

- As per Rotten Tomatoes the flick was pretty well reviewed, holding steady at a 66% “Fresh” rating. For the first time since “Strike Back”, the New York Times gave us a positive shout-out.

- I was able to close down the Askewniverse more fittingly than I felt we did with “Strike Back”. It started with “Clerks” and now it ends with “Clerks II”.

- Not only did the flick get invited to the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, it got an eight minute standing ovation. (I know I keep harping on this, but it was one of the ten best moments of my professional career, so let me enjoy it; it’ll never happen again.)

- I was able to work side-by-side with lots of friends and family, and added a few new keepers to the mix (Rosario and Trevor) in the process.

- We got to document the entire pre-, production, and post experience in the “Train Wreck” making-of shorts over at www.clerks2.com.

- I got to make the exact flick I wanted to make, resulting in my fave of the bunch.

Was “Clerks II” worth the effort? Fuck yes. We made a flick that a lot of folks love (myself included) and thanks to our low budget approach, before the year is out, it’ll earn strong profits. So while we can’t boast box office bragging rights this weekend (then again, aside from “Monster House”, what newcomer can?), we’re not sitting here with shotguns in our mouths either. And in this wacky business, that’s about the best one can ever hope for, really.

Thanks, all, who checked the flick out already. Thanks to all who may check it out in the future.
[Edited 7/24/06 8:01am]