‘Pirates’ in search of swag
The first two giants of Hollywood’s summer season have broken giant box-office records.
Now it’s time to see if “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” can measure up and lead the movie business to its biggest Memorial Day weekend ever.
Disney’s third “Pirates” flick arrives today, just one week after “Shrek the Third” set a new high for animated debuts and three weeks after “Spider-Man 3” shattered the record for best opening weekend.
The three franchises now account for the top debuts ever: “Spider-Man 3” with a domestic haul of $151.1 million; last summer’s “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” with $135.6 million; and “Shrek the Third” with $121.6 million.
Can the “Pirates” franchise reclaim the opening-weekend record it lost to “Spider-Man 3”?
“I don’t think you can break their record, because when they came in the marketplace, there weren’t a lot of big movies. So there were a lot of screens available,” said “Pirates” producer Jerry Bruckheimer.
“We’ll have two huge movies in the marketplace. We can’t get the amount of seats they had. … So I doubt if we’ll do it, but you never know.”
The new “Pirates” movie reunites Bruckheimer, director Gore Verbinski and stars Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley and Geoffrey Rush – the same team that launched the franchise in 2003.
That summer’s “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl” took in $305.4 million domestically, a surprise sensation considering the movie was based on a Disney theme-park ride.
Last July’s “Dead Man’s Chest” was 2006’s biggest hit with $423.3 million.
Much of the second and third films were shot at the same time, allowing Disney to follow the cliffhanger of “Dead Man’s Chest” with “At World’s End” just 10 months later.
The new movie picks up where the second left off, with Bloom, Knightley and Rush embarking on a voyage to rescue Depp’s buccaneer Jack Sparrow from Davy Jones’ locker.
Even if it does not surpass “Spider-Man 3,” studios expect one of the busiest times ever for modern Hollywood over the long Memorial Day weekend.
Some of the year’s biggest releases are always out around this time, but the industry has never had a trio of such mammoth sequels fresh in theaters as the third installments in the “Spider-Man,” “Shrek” and “Pirates” franchises.
They could lift Hollywood beyond its busiest Memorial Day ever in 2004, when the industry grossed $247 million over the four-day weekend.
“With the head of steam that has been built up, it’s possible to have a record-breaking holiday, for sure,” says Chuck Viane, head of distribution for Disney.
Through last weekend, Hollywood’s domestic revenue for 2007 was at $3.3 billion, 6.5 percent ahead of last year. After accounting for higher ticket prices, movie attendance is up 3 percent this year.
With a rush of big movies in the wings, Hollywood’s summer season could finish as a record-breaker, as well.
The summer’s first three blockbusters will be followed by a sequel-laden lineup that includes “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer,” “Evan Almighty,” “Ocean’s Thirteen,” “Live Free or Die Hard,” “The Bourne Ultimatum” and “Rush Hour 3.”
Analysts say the industry could have its first $4 billion summer, surpassing the $3.95 billion revenue record set in 2004 and possibly topping modern Hollywood’s admissions record of 653.4 million tickets sold in summer 2002.