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By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published July 10, 2006

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, 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.

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 considerably more than 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.

Even factoring in higher prices since 2002, Dead Man's Chest still set a record of just under 20-million tickets sold, about 200,000 more than Spider-Man.

[Last modified July 10, 2006, 05:45:32]