Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales is headed for a massive $275 million worldwide opening. The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise has always been enormous at the worldwide box office, with the first four films taking in $3.7 billion in total ticket sales. The biggest grosser of those four films was 2006's Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest which finished with $1.066 billion, a hair ahead of 2011's On Stranger Tides which made $1.045 billion. While 2007's At World's End failed to crack the $1 billion mark, it did make $963 million, beating out the original 2003 Pirates which "only" managed $654 million in ticket sales.

The fifth installment of the series, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, debuted this weekend and appears to be well on its way to joining the other four films in the ranks of massive global blockbusters. The film may even become the third Pirates film to crack the $1 billion mark worldwide.

According to Variety, Dead Men Tell No Tales is expected to bring in an estimated $275 million worldwide over the long Memorial Day weekend (beating projections which had it grossing $230 million), with $110 million in grosses already tallied by Friday. Including Thursday previews, Pirates had taken in $21 million domestically by Friday, while also opening big in China with $21.3 million. The film is #1 in every market except India and Vietnam.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales

Disney banked big on Dead Men having a huge first weekend by opening it in 91 percent of global markets. That global box office may have been helped some by a lack of competition, with Paramount electing to hold off on opening its big Memorial Day movie Baywatch overseas until the first weekend of June. Baywatch looks like it will be a disappointment at the domestic box office.

Reviews of Pirates 5 have been largely negative, with the film only garnering a 32 percent fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes, but that doesn't seem to have dampened enthusiasm for the movie among audiences especially overseas. Domestic totals for the film could come in somewhat light especially compared to the opening weekend numbers for previous Pirates movies, including Dead Man's Chest which took in $135 million its first weekend and At World's End which did $114 million.

In Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) squares off against the evil spirit Captain Salazar (Javier Bardem) while meeting up with both Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and his son Henry (Brenton Thwaites). Original Pirates star Keira Knightley returns for an appearance, and the film is also graced by a cameo from music legend Paul McCartney.

Next: How Pirates of the Caribbean 5 Connects To The Original Trilogy

Source: Variety

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