A poster of "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End"

     LOS ANGELES, May 28 (Xinhua) -- Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" raked in more than 400 million dollars since its release last week, smashing the previous industry record set by Sony's "Spider-Man 3" earlier this month, according to studio figures released Monday.

    The third, and probably the last, film of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise has grossed 401 million dollars in last six days since opening in over 100 countries and territories, said Mark Zoradi, president of Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Marketing and Distribution.

    The epic adventure starring Johnny Depp and Keira Knightley overpassed "Spider-Man 3," which set the previous record of 381.7 million dollars for a Hollywood blockbuster in a six-day period of opening.

    "Pirates" opened in North America on Thursday and in some international theaters on Wednesday.

    It hauled in 115.1 million dollars in North America over the three-day weekend, short of "Spider-Man 3" and last summer's "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," which respectively took in 151.1 million and 135.6 million dollars in their opening weekends.

    But the film's four-day gross of 142.1 million dollars is the biggest ever Memorial Day weekend gross, surpassing last year's "X-Men: The Last Stand," which brought in 122.9 million dollars over the four-day weekend.

    "At World's End" is the third blockbuster in three weeks to break major movie sales records, and industry observers note that the red hot summer season has only started, with several major pictures including "Ocean's 13," "Transformers" and "Harry Porter and the Order of the Phoenix" to be released in coming weeks.

    DreamWorks Animation's "Shrek the Third" came in second over the three-day weekend with 53 million dollars, or 69 million over the four-day holiday.

    While "Spider-Man 3" brought in 14.2 million dollars to take third over the three-day weekend, or about 18 million dollars over four days. The superhero action film has grossed a whopping 307.6 million dollars in North America since its record-breaking debut three weeks ago.

    The thriller "Bug," starring Ashley Judd as a lonely waitress who pairs up with a paranoid Gulf War veteran who sees bugs in a spooky motel room, came in fourth with 3.3 million dollars over three-days, and about 4.2 million dollars over the long weekend.

    The comedy "Waitress," about a waitress and master pie maker who finds herself pregnant while trapped in a bad marriage, came in fifth with 3.1 million dollars over the three-day weekend, and 4 million dollars through Monday.

    The 12 top-grossing films brought in a combined 250.2 million dollars over the Memorial Day weekend, up 8 percent from the 231.8million dollars generated during the same period a year earlier.

    "Pirates" sure bet to break 4-day holiday record

    BEIJING, May 28 (Xinhuanet) -- "Spider-Man 3" still holds the three-day box office record of 151 million U.S. dollars, but "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" appears a sure bet to establish a new mark for a four-day holiday opening.

    "Pirates" should easily break the industry's holiday weekend box-office record of 122.9 million dollars established Memorial Day weekend of last year by "X-Men 3: The Last Stand" and, according to Disney, should also achieve the largest global opening ever.

    "Pirates 3" fails to set new opening box office mark

    LOS ANGELES, May 27 (Xinhua) -- The latest film of Walt Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise failed to set new opening box office record in North America this weekend, largely due to the lingering popularity of superhero Spider-Man and a computer-generated green ogre named Shrek among moviegoers.

    But "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" still sold an estimated 126.5 million dollars worth of tickets in the United States and Canada during the three-day period, well on its way to setting a new domestic Memorial Day weekend box office record, distributer Walt Disney Pictures said Sunday.

    Lengthy "Pirates" leaves viewers at wit's end

   BEIJING, May 24 (Xinhuanet) -- The critics will criticize it for being too long (almost three hours) and frivilous, but the fans will come when "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" opens Thursday in theaters across America.

    The movie begins with Elizabeth (Keira Knightley), Will (Orlando Bloom) and Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) arriving in Singapore to recruit and introduce the episode's major new character, Chinese pirate Sao Feng (Chow Yun-Fat), to aid in their fight against the evil Lord Beckett (Tom Hollander).