No one on the planet can EVER claim that making over $100 million at the boxoffice on your opening weekend is any sort of “failure” by any stretch of the imagination. Having said that… you KNOW the folks at Disney were eyeing that new Spider-Man 3 record over over $150 million. A lot of people expected Pirates 3 to surpass that number… well… we were wrong. By a LOT.
Pirates 3 came in with $112 million for the official opening weekend. That’s amazing business. However… it’s about a full $40 million short of where Spider-Man 3 came in. So the question is why did Pirates 3 fall sooooo far short of Spider-Man 3? Well… I’d like to suggest 3 contributing factors:
1) It’s the long weekend in the US – A lot of people are doing things other than sitting in the movie theaters
2) The longer length of Pirates 3 may have turned some people off.
3) MOST IMPORTANTLY… Spider-Man 2 was a GREAT movie that built up the excitement for Spider-Man 3 even more. Pirates 2 on the other hands was a let down for many people, and lessened any anticipation for a part 3. This, I submit to you, is the primary reason for the drop off in its opening weekend.
As a matter of fact, not only did Pirates 3 fail to set the new opening weekend box office record… but it could only manage 5th place… $20 million behind Pirates 2. I was one of the people who was let down by Pirates 2… but I also still thought not enough people realized that it was only an “ok” movie at best… and that Pirates 3 would still take over the opening weekend crown. I guess more people realized than I thought.
Having said all that… still keep in mind that Pirates 3 made over $100 fricking million on its opening weekend. That my friends is a success by any definition. Just not anywhere near as big a success as many were expecting… and Disney was hoping for.
