Moviegoers anxious for confusing, overlong, bellicose anti-entertainment got their fill this Memorial Day weekend with Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End, which took in $156 million over the four-day stretch (including special Thursday screenings), and, in an aggressive global assault, brought in another $245 million in territories outside North America. That was just enough to edge out the week's other opener, William Friedkin's Bug, which brought in $4.2 million. (Though the film, shot mostly in one location, probably cost less to make than one of Davy Jones' tentacles.)
In the alternate universe that is the American arthouse scene, other movies were able to find their own brand of success. The soaring musical Once, starring The Frames' Glen Hansard, continued to do robust business in select cities with a $21,650 per-screen-average in 20 theaters. Also performing well was the anthology film Paris Je'Taime, which is being released by a much smaller distributor (First Look) yet still managed a $9,260 per-screen-average in 58 theaters. Of the arthouse openers, the well-received Japanese animated film Paprika performed well on two screens, netting $22,800 on average.
Detailed numbers available at Box Office Mojo.