Pirates 3D strikes IMAX record open

IMAX scored its biggest global opening ever with the 3D “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.”

And 3D audiences in any format showed they preferred the first 3D “Pirates,” with 94% rating the movie “highly favorable” vs. 81% for 2D, according to opening-weekend exit polls.

IMAX showings accounted for $16.5 million on 394 screens, and a swashbuckling $60,100 per screen internationally, where the film collected $8.3 million on 138 IMAX screens, according to Disney and IMAX.

The movie raked in the fourth biggest global opening of all time with $346.4 mil. in overall grosses worldwide, with nearly half of those grosses — 46% — coming from 3D showings, according to producer/distributor Disney. “Pirates 4” racked up $90.1 million in domestic box-office grosses in 4,155 U.S. theaters — 2,747 of them (66%) with a 3D premium ticket price that accounted for 37% of grosses in the U.S. IMAX showings accounted for $8.2 million of that haul, for a per-screen average of $32,000.

Both the film and the 3D performed even better overseas with a record $256.3 mil. in international grosses overall, according to Paul Dergarabedian of Hollywood.com Box Office.  About 66% of that came from 3D showings.

All of this booty will be added to the $2.7 billion of the first three films in the “Pirates” franchise.

“These results demonstrate the rising global appeal of top Hollywood blockbusters presented in IMAX’s format, and perfectly highlight the potential inherent in IMAX’s international growth strategy,” said IMAX CEO Richard L. Gelfond. IMAX’s “Pirates” generated a per-screen average of more than $100,000 on 15 international IMAX screens, eight of which are in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). Others are in China, Korea, Taiwan, Australia, Europe and Japan. The highest-grossing screen worldwide is the IMAX Kinosfera in Moscow, with a gross to date of more than $240,000. Newly opened IMAX theatres in Milan, Italy ($51,650) and Mallorca, Spain ($48,000) have also posted strong results.

Meanwhile, “Thor,” also in 3D — 60% of opening weekend grosses were from 3D, grossed another $15.5 million in its third weekend in the U.S., hammering its domestic total to $145.4 million.

And 3D animated “Rio” flew away with another $4.65 mil. to raise its cume to $131.6 mil.

— By Scott Hettrick