Weekend Estimates: Pirates Top Chart, But Drift Off Course

June 4, 2007

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End topped the weekend chart comfortably, according to studio estimates released on Sunday. The swashbuckling adventure added an estimated $43.2 million to its tally, taking it to a healthy $216.5 million total gross in the US alone. But its weekend-to-weekend drop-off was over 60%, and $43 million is well behind most predictions. Although $300 million seems like a certainty (our projection has it reaching the mark after 23 or 24 days in release), anything beyond that is looking increasingly unlikely.

Knocked Up finished in second place over the weekend, but Universal executives will be counting that as at least a moral a victory. Its $29.3 million opening is ahead of the $21.4 million debut achieved by The 40 Year-Old Virgin two years ago, and stellar reviews suggest it will get excellent word of mouth and a long box office run through the Summer.

Filed under: Weekend Estimates, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, Knocked Up