Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl stormed the Italian box office, grossing an enormous $5.8m (Euro 5.241m) five days after its Italian premiere, making it the biggest opening ever in the territory for its distributor BVI.

Days after the movie's star, Johnny Depp's widely publicized trip to the Venice Film Festival to promote Robert Rodriguez's Once Upon A Time In Mexico, Pirates Of The Caribbean opened on 531 screens. Pirates has already almost reached the running total of previous weekend opener The Hulk.

In third was Marco Bellocchio's Venice hit, Buongiorno, Notte which earned a highly impressive opening for 01 Distribution. Buzz surrounding the pyschological-political film on its opening weekend was heightened by a national outcry that the film did not win the Golden Lion on Saturday.

The film, about a group of terrorists who kidnapped and murdered local politician Aldo Moro in 1978, opened on 163 screens - an unprecedented number of screens for a local arthouse picture - and earned a strong screen average of $4,509