Weekly International Box Office May 27 – 29

Disney’s Pirates Of The Caribbean continued to crush its opposition on the international scene, taking $125.7m from 20,114 screens – the highest number of screens on record – in 71 territories - the highest number of territories since Avatar at the beginning of last year.

The film’s cumulative already stands at a resounding $490m, making it the biggest international title since Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part One, whose $660m will be under threat.

As previously reported, second-placed The Hangover and third-placed Kung Fu Panda made strong debuts, taking $57.8m in 27 territories and $55m in 11 territories respectively.

16 of the top 20 titles were US films, with Toho’s seventh-placed Princess Toyotomi the highest non-US entry grossing $3.8m from 232 screens at a week-high average of $16,353 in Japan. Masayuki Suzuki’s comedy about a group of auditors who discover a 400 year-old secret in Osaka, stars Shinichi Tsutsumi, Haruka Ayase and Masaki Okada.

Eighth-placed family drama Sunny continued to do excellent business in its fourth week in Korea, taking $3.2m from 464 screens for $23.3m.

Sony’s Priest saw the biggest decline among the top 20, falling eight places from sixth to 14th after making only $1.7m (for $40.8m) in its 46 territories.

Toei’s Osama Tezuka’s Buddha was the only other top thirty newcomer. The second-best of three top 20 Japanese films, Yasuomi Ishito’s animation made $1.7m from 286 screens in its local market, while the fourth and final non-US title in the top 20 was Toho’s Peak The Rescuers, which grossed $1.4m. Now in its fourth week, the mountain-rescue drama has taken $15.8m in Japan.

Palm d’Or winner The Tree Of Life stayed solid in tenth, grosing a further $2.7m from its nine territories while Lars von Trier’s Melancholia openened across Scandinavia, making $503, 809 from 181 screens.