‘Pirates’ puts up ‘Titanic’ numbers

On a recent episode of HBO’s “Entourage,” the movie that the movie-star character Vince Chase ( Adrian Grenier ) plays in a supposed James Cameron adaptation of the “Aquaman” comic-book story broke the three-day opening box-office record set in 2002 by “Spider-Man.”

Just a few days ago, that record seemed safe. Most of the 2006 summer blockbuster wannabes had already opened, including the recent revival of the “Superman” franchise with a new actor in the lead role, an unknown named Brandon Routh.

None came close to upseating “Spider-Man.”

And the initial word of the one film left with the fire power to do it, “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest,” was iffy. The movie was getting mixed reviews, though one or two said it was destined to be the summer savior.

Now comes the word. This sequel to 2003’s “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl” has not only bested “Spider-Man,” it had dusted it. It is like a can of Raid to the Webslinger’s financial soul.

Estimates are that “Pirates” enjoyed a $132 million weekend, bettering the $114.8 put up by “Spider-Man.”

All of which means that Hollywood is once again going to have to rewrite its rules. Before now, movies that are two and a half hours long (“Pirates” comes in at about just that) were thought to be problematic, partly because you just couldn’t squeeze enough screenings in a day.

No problem there, though. Just open on more screens: “Pirates” opened on 4,133 screens as opposed to 3,876 for “Spider-Man.”

Also, “Pirates” had an estimated production budget of $225 million, which means that it’s going to have to make at least $450 million, and probably more, to make a profit (at least according to Hollywood accounting; see an interesting article about that economics conundrum here ).

But since “Spider-Man” has gone on to earn more than $403 million in the U.S. and $822 million world-wide – and an estimated production budget of $132 million – that’s not out of the question.

So you can just hear the talk in Hollywood now. Yeah, baby, the target now is “Pirates.” Maybe someone actually is talking to James Cameron about “Aquaman.”