 'Pirates' Treasure Grows
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest outran every film in history to the $300-million mark over the weekend as it piled up an additional $35 million to bring its total to $321.7 million according to industry estimates issued Sunday. In 17 days, the Pirates sequel has already taken in more than the original film did in its entire six-month run in 2003. Of four new challengers, only the animated Monster House, which received mostly positive reviews, made a significant challenge to Pirates, as it chalked up $23 million, including $2.6 million from premium-priced tickets at 163 3-D screenings. Meanwhile, the failure of two other newcomers may have given former Disney exec Nina Jacobson and ABC film critic Joel Siegel a case of schadenfreude. M. Night Shyamalan's Lady in the Water, which received Jacobson's negative appraisal when the writer-director took his script to her (he subsequently made the film at Warner Bros.), drew an estimated $18.2 million. Kevin Smith's Clerks II, while costing only a fraction of Lady, earned only $9.6 million. Although the film reportedly cost about $5 million to make, it cost about $20 million to market. Clerks II received reams of free publicity when ABC film critic Joel Siegel walked out of a press screening, announcing loudly that it was the first time he had done so in 30 years. (Smith told the Comic-Con meeting in San Diego that Siegel's action particularly stung since "I grew up watching him on TV." He added that Siegel had been so much a part of his childhood that when he engaged in an on-air radio debate with him last week, "it was like arguing with my father ... if my father had a big, f***ing mustache.") The weekend's biggest flop was veteran director Ivan Reitman's My Super Ex-Girlfriend with ticket sales of just $8.7 million. (On Friday, New York Post writer Kyle Smith said that it landed "KER-FLOP," while John Anderson in Newsday said that it was "one of those movies that make you ask ... why was it made? ... And, most important, why is there 10 bucks missing from my pocket?")
The top ten films for the weekend, according to studio estimates compiled by Exhibitor Relations: 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.  | 
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