Depp's 'Pirates' scores record $132M debut

U.S. actor Johnny Depp, center, U.S. film producer Jerry Bruckheimer, left, and British actor Orlando Bloom attend the screening for the French premiere of their latest movie 'Pirates of the Caribean: Dead Man's Chest,' in Paris, Thursday July 6, 2006. (AP Photo/Remy de la Mauviniere)

Johnny Depp's boozy, woozy buccaneer Jack Sparrow has plundered the box office, with "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" taking in a record $132 million in its first three days, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Disney's swashbuckling sequel sailed past the previous all-time best debut, 2002's "Spider-Man," which took in $114.8 million in its first weekend.

"Dead Man's Chest" also did nearly three times the business of its predecessor, "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl," which took in $46.6 million over opening weekend in 2003.

The sequel surpassed that total in its first day alone, taking in $55.5 million Friday to beat the previous single-day record of $50 million, set last year by "Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith." With $44.7 million on Saturday, "Dead Man's Chest" also became the first movie to top $100 million in just two days.

Despite sky-high projections for the "Pirates" sequel from industry analysts, producer Jerry Bruckheimer said he had expected "Dead Man's Chest" to open closer to the $77 million debut weekend of last spring's "The Da Vinci Code."

"When people in the industry predicted these high numbers, I thought they were just trying to be mean. So no matter how good we did, if we did $100 million, we'd be failures," Bruckheimer told The Associated Press on Sunday. "I didn't think we'd get near these numbers."

The movie sent Hollywood's overall business soaring. The top 12 films grossed $206.5 million, up 48 percent from the same weekend last year, when "Fantastic Four" opened with $56.1 million.

"Dead Man's Chest" raked in nearly double the total of the rest of the top 12 combined. The previous weekend's top film, "Superman Returns," fell to No. 2 with $21.85 million, down 58 percent from opening weekend.

"Superman Returns" has grossed $141.7 million in 12 days and should fly past the $200 million mark, said Dan Fellman, head of distribution for Warner Bros., which released the film.