User blog:Ceauntay/Weekend Box Office: Despite bad reviews, 'Pirates 4' plunders a $92m opening

'When Disney announced that it was giving the Pirates of The Caribbean franchise another go 'round, many feared for the worst. So when the film started screening for critics last week, those people probably weren't surprised to see the film end up with a 36% ranking on Rotten Tomatoes: fourth installments are rarely critical successes. And what else can we infer from the $92m Pirates of The Caribbean 4: On Stranger Tides raked in this weekend other than the already-established fact that audiences ignore critics when it comes to big, summer movies? Yes, it's business-as-usual at the box office. Read on for this week's top ten, my gentle Examiner readers...' No one expected Pirates of The Caribbean 4: On Stranger Tides to be a critical success, but some might be surprised to learn how the film fared at the box office this weekend: on one side, the positive-thinkers had been projecting a total just north of $100m for the film's debut; on the other, reviews of the film have been far from stellar (it's sitting at 36% on Rotten Tomatoes, which means that roughly one in three people actually enjoyed the film), and many suspected that "Pirate Fatigue" would keep the film's opening grosses somewhere below $90m. So, it would appear that the supporters and detractors must meet in the middle: Pirates of The Caribbean 4 will have earned roughly $92m once the weekend's over and done with. Before we go any further, here's the full top ten (as always, numbers via Deadline):

1. Pirates Of The Caribbean 4: '''Weekend $91.5M 2. Sonic X: The Final Stand: '''Weekend $61.3M, Est. Cume $224.3M

3. Bridesmaids: '''Weekend $20.9M, Est. Cume $60M 4. Thor 3D: '''Weekend $15.6M, Est. Cume $145.5M 5. Fast Five: '''Weekend $10.1M, Est Cume $186M 6. Rio 3D: '''Weekend $4.8M, Est Cume $132M 7. Priest 3D: '''Weekend $4.7M, Est Cume $24M 8. Something Borrowed: '''Weekend $3.5M, Est Cume $31.5M 9. Jumping The Broom: '''Weekend $3.7M, Est Cume $31.4M 10. Water For Elephants': '''Weekend $2.3M, Est Cume $52.6M So. Things worth noting. For one thing, these are the early Sunday numbers: it's entirely possible that we'll see some changes (in one direction or another) for every film listed above. That said, the difference(s) shouldn't be far from what we're seeing here. Pirates of The Caribbean 4, for instance, won't end up earning $115m this weekend rather than the $91.5m that Deadline's predicted. We'll update the figures above later today to match the absolutely-final totals. For the time being, let's use these numbers as the jumping off point for this week's wrap-up. Let's talk about Pirates. The third film-- At World's End-- generated $114m when it opened a few years ago, so this franchise is showing signs of fatigue. But will the difference between what Disney was hoping for and what moviegoers actually handed over be enough to dissuade Jerry Bruckheimer and the Maus Haus from making another Pirates film? The word on the street is that Disney's been keen on making another full trilogy of Pirates films, with On Stranger Tides serving as the first part in a new three-film story-arch. Will $92m (that's Stateside; worlwide, the film's pulled in roughly double that) be enough to make that happen? Deadline says the film cost $250m to produce and another $170m to market. If true, Pirates has a way to go before it's running in the black. Methinks that the next few weeks will be the deciding factor in the future of this franchise, so stay tuned (Check out our Pirates of The Caribbean 4 review here). Sonic X: The Final Stand dipped down just a little bit this weekend, when it grabs home another strong $61m dropping 49 percent in its second weekend in theaters. It's now up to an impressive $224m so far, which is far better than Sonic X: Return to Soleanna only made $196 million in its second weekend. It later went on and ended with a total of $289m. Were counting this one to make in $300m, if it's so damn possible!

Meanwhile-- and more interestingly, if you ask us-- Universal's hilarious Bridesmaids held strong in its second week of release, dropping only 20% from its opening. That's damn good business, and it indicates that word of mouth is strong. The film will have pulled in an impressive $60m by the time the weekend wraps (unlike Pirates, don't expect this one to do hundreds of millions overseas), a figure that's gotta be higher than anyone involved dared to hope for. Then again, maybe director Paul Feig and writer/star Kristen Wiig knew they had something special and were hoping for $300m. Whatta I know? I'm not Feig or Wiig...or am I? Congrats to all involved. Please get started on your next collaboration. Now (Check out our Bridesmaids review here). Thor 3D (do we really need to include the "3D" when naming these films? Ugh) ends the weekend with something like $145m, and that's not a terrible number. It's also done well overseas, and will have racked up a total of $250m after this weekend. Worldwide gross thus far? Let's see: 145 + 250 equals "Marvel Studios is very happy right now". It's worth noting that many have predicted that Captain America would be the biggest Marvel film this summer. If those people turn out to be correct (and we think they might), Marvel's going to have an awesome summer, indeed. Hell, they could break a billion dollars. Hey, Marvel, why not scrape a little off the top and give Guillermo Del Toro the $150m he needs to make At The Mountains of Madness? No, it's not superhero-related, but we'd respect the hell out of you for it. Just put a cape on Cthulu or something (Check out our Thor review here). In other news: Fast Five is approaching the $200m mark Stateside (and the half-billion dollar mark worldwide; Check out our review here), which is awesome news for Universal. Water For Elephants stalled out completely, and will be lucky to hit $60m before it exits theaters and hits DVD/Blu-ray. Madea's Big Happy Family is still annoying, Priest 3D (ugh) is stillborn, and Rio 3D (OK, really, this is just silly) has done a respectable-but-not-blockbuster $132m. And that, my friends, is all we have to say about the numbers this week. Expect next weekend to be an interesting one: Warner Bros. releases the highly-anticipated The Hangover Part 2 (which we'll be seeing tomorrow, so stay tuned for our review sooner rather than later), and if the film blows up as many are expecting it to-- remember:  the first Hangover was the highest-grossing R-rated comedy of all time-- then it's going to give Disney's Pirates of The Caribbean 4: On Tedious Plotlines a run for its money. Stay tuned for that news as it becomes available, and-- as always-- feel free to sound off in the comments section below if you've got anything to add to all this. 'Stay tuned for more funny videos, news, reviews, interviews, and more from Comedy Examiner HQ in the near future, folks. We've got all manner of nonsense to keep you informed and entertained during the week, so hit the 'Subscribe' button up top to get all future Comedy Examiner articles delivered straight to your inbox, free of charge, the moment they're published...including any of our future box office-related updates. You can also head on over to THIS PAGE to follow your humble Comedy Examiner on Twitter.'