"Pirates" becomes year's top-grossing film

"Pirates of the Caribbean 2" is looking more like "Treasure Island."

Already a record-shattering blockbuster, Johnny Depp's sequel "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" dug up US$62.2 million in the United States in its second weekend, raising its 10-day total to US$258.2 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.

The movie has quickly become the year's top-grossing film, rocketing past "X-Men: The Last Stand," which has taken in US$232 million in eight weeks. The "Pirates" sequel has grossed an additional US$125 million overseas.

"It's really fun when you're riding a comet like this," said Chuck Viane, head of distribution for Disney, which based the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies on its theme park attraction. "This thing is just unbelievable. It creates its own wake."

Hollywood's business dipped for the first time in two months. After eight straight weekends of rising revenues, overall receipts totaled US$156 million, down 5 percent from the same weekend last year, when Depp also was at the top of the box office with "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory."

Still, the second weekend gross for "Pirates of the Caribbean 2" topped the debut of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," which opened with US$56.2 million. "Pirates of the Caribbean 2" had the third-best second weekend ever, behind "Shrek 2" (US$72.2 million) and "Spider-Man" (US$71.4 million).

"Pirates of the Caribbean 2" debuted with US$135.6 million over the opening weekend, beating the previous record of US$114.8 million set by "Spider-Man" in 2002.

Ending with a cliffhanger, "Pirates of the Caribbean 2" will be closely followed by a third "Pirates" movie due out next May, with Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley and other co-stars on a voyage to rescue Depp's rakish pirate Captain Jack Sparrow.

"Huge expectations. 'Pirates 2' is maybe the toughest act in box-office history to follow," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations. "'Pirates 3' is the definition of a predestined blockbuster."

According to yesterday's Daily Sunshine, "Pirates of the Caribbean 2" many not be screened on the Chinese mainland due to some scenes with skulls and death.