Memorial Day Poll: Did Good Weather Hurt Pirates at the Box Office?
Filed under: Action, Animation, Comedy, Box Office, Fandom, Family Films, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels
Although it's on course to finish with the highest four-day Memorial Day weekend debut ever, Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End took in only $112.5 million from Friday to Sunday -- and that was in a record-squashing 4,362 theaters; 110 more theaters than Spider-Man 3. If you tack on the $14 million it took in during those Thursday night screenings, you're looking at $126 million; a number that's certainly respectable, even though it comes nowhere near the three-day opening for Dead Man's Chest ($135.6 million) last year. So what happened? How did both Spider-Man 3 ($151.1 million) and Shrek the Third ($121.6 million) top Pirates in the three-day totals when it clearly beat those other two in terms of entertaining its fanbase?
The only major reason I could come up with was good weather. Seriously. This weekend produced sunny skies for the majority of the country; here on the east coast, it was near 90 degrees for all three days -- the perfect beach weather, and definitely the best Memorial Day weekend in the past few years. Could it be that people were too busy firing up the barbecues and breaking out the sun screen to shell out 10 bucks to go see a movie? I know I was. Granted, Pirates did have heftier competition; keep in mind Shrek the Third still took in $51 million while Spider-Man 3 managed $13 million. If Shrek wasn't in the picture, there's a pretty good chance Pirates would have soared past Spidey. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. When it was all said and done, Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End had the fifth-biggest opening ever, but is that enough for Disney to continue the franchise? And now that its biggest threat is out the way, are there any other films coming down the pipeline that are strong enough to top Spidey's massive $151 million opening?
So, I ask you: In your opinion, how come Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End finished behind both Spidey and Shrek in its opening weekend?










Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
5-28-2007 @ 2:21PM
RP said...
Perhaps the absolutely appalling second instalment put people off.
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5-28-2007 @ 2:56PM
The Addict said...
Agreed. I went to see PotC3 for one reason: Keith Richards. I'd go back to see it again for many more.
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5-28-2007 @ 2:35PM
Fred Philbie said...
I'd say it's probably more due to PIRATES 3's running time of 2 hours, 48 minutes -- almost a half hour longer than SPIDER-MAN 3's 2 hours, 20 minutes, and far longer than SHREK 3's kid-friendly 92 minutes. Such a long running time not only means fewer screenings per day, but people just might not be willing to invest that much time of their holiday weekend seeing a movie.
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5-28-2007 @ 3:00PM
bgdc said...
Second film hurt it big time. I wouldn't have seen POTC3 expressly because of the second film. My fiancee demanded otherwise. She was right. The 3rd film was far, far better; still not POTC1 quality but damned better than 2.
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5-28-2007 @ 4:17PM
AJ said...
The first thing I thought to myself when I saw the weather forecast was that Pirates would hurt, and it did. It should have longer legs than the other two though. On the bright side, it had the biggest 6-day world wide total with 401, beating spidy's 382. This is without opening in the two biggest countries, while spidey did open everywhere, China and India. Chow Yun-Fat is sure to be a huge box office draw in China.
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5-28-2007 @ 4:27PM
Chris said...
I'm pretty sure that being cinematic fecal matter didn't help its weekend takings.
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5-28-2007 @ 5:30PM
neoxkc said...
"Perhaps the absolutely appalling second instalment put people off."
Hear, hear!
I liked the first one, hated the second. As a result I will not watch the third one.
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5-28-2007 @ 6:59PM
AJ said...
In regard to posts 6 and 7. Here is to the box office failures Shrek 4 and Spiderman 4!
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5-28-2007 @ 8:21PM
rtms said...
I think I called this earlier, this film like Tomb Raider 2 was hyped up only for it to fall short. Running time, plus bad reviews, plus people exhausted with 3 big blockbusters in a row, not to mention the money spent by families just this month if they went to all three, did this film in. I think if it had debuted in it's traditional July spot it may have done better.
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5-28-2007 @ 8:37PM
Adam said...
I feel lonely and curious. Am I the only one who hated all three Spidermans, wasn't crazy enough about the first POTC to warrant seeing the second two, and has never seen any of the Shrek movies (nor has an interest to)?
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5-28-2007 @ 8:56PM
Haunt said...
Well Adam (#10), I'm even lonlier than you it seems. I'm one of the very few people on the planet that absolutely LOATHED the second Spider-Man film. Yet somehow I still had the grace to see the third and give it it's chance... which it obviously didn't deserve, as it was not terribly good. Not nearly as bad as the second though.
And I'm also one of the few, the proud, the open-minded that loved the second Pirates film as much as the first. I frankly don't understand the overwhelming hatred for 'Dead Man's Chest'. I thought it was fantastic and different... but I suppose that explains it right there, doesn't it?
At any rate, think 'At World's End' was amazing! Saw it three times, and will likely see it again. I have a deep and abiding love of movies more than 2 hours long, so it's running time actually helped it in my eyes. I've been known to watch the extended-cut versions of all three Lord of the Rings films back to back in one sitting, and I expect I'll do the same thing with the Pirates trilogy once this latest installment hits DVD.
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5-28-2007 @ 9:08PM
Kitty said...
I would agree with those who said that the second installment put people off. I found the second Pirates movie appallingly boring. Seriously, if I'd had a book I would have gone out in the lobby to read and wait for my friends rather than sit there for two hours thinking "I MUST be the only one hating this movie." Fearing that Pirates 3 is more of the same, I'll wait for word of mouth from people I trust before shelling out cash for another waste of almost three hours of my life.
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5-28-2007 @ 11:54PM
bgdc said...
Kitty, POTC3 is much, much better than 2. Sparrow is again interesting, the plot's better and the dialogue is amusing again. Some moronic critics are calling it confusing but honestly, paying even a little bit of attention would help them. Still, it's too long and the end never seems to come. FWIW, I'd still wait for DVD; but I had no choice.
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5-29-2007 @ 3:24PM
Danny said...
Well I think one important factor in all of this here'say is that Spidey opened before both Shrek and Pirates came out. Not to mention... Who was Spidey's box office competitor at the time? - crickets chirping -
Pirates is not only in competition with Shrek 3 and Spiderman 3, it also must deal with how long it is (which in my mind wasn't even a bad thing).
I think ticket sales do not give this film justice.
The movie is hands down better than Spiderman was.
This movie simply had bad timing.
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5-29-2007 @ 7:10AM
Daniel Vella said...
To 11: No, you're not alone...I LOVE Pirates 2, I thought it was the best blockbuster in years.
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5-29-2007 @ 9:03AM
Shanay said...
POC 3 lived up to the expectations.For those of you that feel that any of the POC's were'nt good,it says to me that you didnt pay attention.My kid of 7yrs even understood the movie better than some of the adults that watched it.... SHANMAN
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5-29-2007 @ 8:58AM
Robin said...
The weather here was horrible all weekend so at least DFW has to have another "excuse."
Personally I had no desire to see this in the theater. We went to see Spider-Man this weekend.
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5-29-2007 @ 9:56AM
Pop Culture Pessimist said...
Adam, I'm with you on most counts, although I just love abidingly the first 2/3rds of Pirates One. The second two were just abysmal. In the last one I counted myself thinking, "THIS is Pirates??" about 13 times. S'pose you gotta like the first Pirates to consider something like "canon", though.
I'm actually quite disappointed at the mass delusion of the public in regards to Spiderman 1-3. It was derivative, campy, and ultimately condescending shite that should never worn the moniker of the most beloved comic character in America.
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5-29-2007 @ 1:46PM
Glynnjamin said...
To the people who are claim that "paying attention" would help people understand the movie...
TRY AGAIN. The reason your 7 year old understood it (and most likely you did too) was because you didnt think about it at all.
Seriously, you have to be joking if you think that was a coherent film. It made no sense at all.
Pirate Lords? Oh ok, no mention of that before...
How about having the movie pick up where the other one left off?....no forget that.
Multiple Jacks only occur in Davey Jones' Locker...but they come back even though he's no longer dead.
How about the incoherent dialog of Calypso?
How about explaining WHY Barbosa wanted to release her?
Maybe some explanation of who these other pirate lords are would be nice (and it would help if they all didn't look like Cpt. Hook).
What good is Orlando's heart in the box if it has a hole in it? By that logic, a dead body could stab the heart and be reanimated and take the job.
Kierra becoming a LORD just because she was made captain?
The convenient placement of cannonballs as the gallion is being destroyed that just miss that british dude.
Jack's parachute!
Jack not being wet after crashing into the water...ever.
How about monkeys being fired onto another ship from a cannon?
A marriage while they fight?
Nothing about this movie was coherent. It was slipshod writing done at the last minute.
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5-29-2007 @ 9:49PM
Jess said...
I completely agree with post #18!
and to those who say the plot makes sense... Nope, I had to lean over to a friend a few times because I was confused... it was way way too long... and I think it is a shame that it was more adult and frightening because my little sister would have loved to see it... shame on you Disney
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