Walt Disney Co has released final box office figures for the opening of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, producing a slightly increased six-day worldwide total of $404m.

At the same time, however, Sony, distributor of this month's earlier global blockbuster Spider-Man 3, has raised doubts about some of Disney's box-office record claims.

Disney/Buena Vista's latest box-office report for the third installment in its Pirates franchise reduced the film's four-day tally for the Memorial Day weekend in North America from the estimated $142m to $139.8m. The domestic total up to the end of Monday (i.e. including Thursday previews) dropped from the estimated $156m to $153m.

But the studio also said At World's End made $251m over its first six days (that is to the end of Monday) in the international marketplace, rather than the originally estimated $245m.

The final figures did not change the fact that At World's End broke the record for a Memorial Day weekend domestic opening. Nor did they change Disney's claim that the Pirates film beat the six-day international and worldwide opening records of $231m and $382m set a few weeks ago by Spider-Man 3.

But Disney compared its total grosses from Wednesday (the day it said At World's End had its first international openings) up to Monday to Sony's take from Tuesday (when it said Spider-Man 3 arrived in its first international markets) to Sunday.

Now Sony has publicly questioned the Disney international record claim.

'While Disney and the filmmakers of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End deserve their due on a remarkable opening worldwide,' said Steve Elzer, senior vice president of media relations at Sony's Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group. 'There are some irregularities in their claim regarding record-setting and there are at least two territories - Italy and France - where Buena Vista International opened the film on Tuesday - in essence adding a seventh day of grosses into Pirates' 'six day record.''

Over seven days, Elzer added, Spider-Man 3 grossed $418.1m worldwide, $256.7m from international and $161.4m from North America.

He continued: 'We believe that as more and more day-and-date releases enter the marketplace, there should be a consistent standard in international box office reporting. This issue is larger than an opening week box office statistic.'

A Walt Disney spokesperson responded: 'By any measure, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End clearly and deservedly holds the new record for a six-day opening at the global box office. A limited number of evening previews were held in Italy and France prior to the official opening day in those countries, but the grosses from those previews amounted to only $1.4 million of the total. In the international marketplace, it is customary and common practice to include evening previews in the following opening day numbers.'

Disney, which had said on Sunday that the estimated $205.5m made internationally by At World's End over its 'standard' (i.e. Wednesday-Sunday) weekend topped Spider-Man 3's standard international opening, has already upped that figure to a final $214m.

On Tuesday the studio also released updated figures for a number of individual international territories. At World's End, Disney said, had industry record-breaking openings in 17 territories, including Japan, Korea, Russia and Spain.

The film's revised totals for takings up to the end of Monday included $34.5m from the UK; $22.9m from Germany; $22m from France; $19.3m from Korea; $18.4m from Japan; $15.4m from Russia; $13.2m from Spain; $10.5m from Australia; and $22.9m for the whole of Latin America.

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