Johnny Depp and producer Jerry Bruckheimer stole first place from Arnold Schwarzenegger's Terminator 3 on Wednesday grossing an astounding $13.5M for Pirates of the Caribbean in its first day of release. Seizing the loot in 3,023 theaters, the Disney release averaged a potent $4,469 per location and widens to 3,269 venues on Friday including theaters offering digital projection. The PG-13 film, which finds Depp taking on Geoffrey Rush on the high seas, is the first of two big-budget period action adventure films opening this weekend. Fox launches its Sean Connery starrer The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen on Friday in 3,002 theaters.

The opening day performance of Pirates even outgunned the $12.4M Wednesday bow of last week's highly-anticipated sequel T3. The cyborg pic, however, offered Tuesday night previews which diluted the Wednesday gross to some extent. While reviews have been mixed, Pirates has so far generated positive word-of-mouth from moviegoers which could help add fuel to the weekend grosses. Based on its mid-week bow, Pirates of the Caribbean should manage a five-day launch of more than $60M.

Last Updated: July 10, 2003 at 3:45PM EDT

Written by Gitesh Pandya