Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End ended the four-day North American holiday weekend with an estimated domestic gross of $156m, a new record for the Memorial Day weekend. And distributor Buena Vista issued a new international figure of $245m (including estimates for Monday), pushing the film's worldwide total past $400m for its first six days on release.

The domestic estimate included $14m from Thursday evening previews. Without the previews contribution, At World's End made $142m for the Friday-Monday period. But that was still more than enough to take the Memorial Day weekend gross record from X-Men: The Last Stand, which amassed $122.9m over four days this time last year.

Over the first three days of the holiday weekend, the third installment of Walt Disney Pictures and Jerry Bruckheimer's swashbuckling franchise made $112.5m, the fifth highest three-day weekend opening but well short of the $135.6m made by last summer's second Pirates film, Dead Man's Chest, over its three-day opening weekend.

Disney said the At World's End international six-day total of $245m beat the international six-day opening record of $231m set earlier this month by Sony's Spider-Man 3. The Spidey figure, however, was for Tuesday-Sunday and included takings from only selected territories on the film's international opening day. The At World's End figure was for Wednesday-Monday, and the film was playing at all 102 of its international territories by the end of that time-span.

Disney also said the At World's End worldwide six-day tally of $401m beat Spider-Man 3's worldwide six-day record of $382m, though the Spider-Man 3 figure included only a three-day North American weekend take.

Disney released new figures for some of At World's End's openings (up to the end of Sunday) in international markets. The Pirates outing had record-breaking openings, said the company, in Korea ($18.4m), Russia ($13.7m), Spain ($11.6m), Taiwan ($4.5m) and the Netherlands ($2.8m). It had the biggest opening for a US production in Japan ($15.9m) and set new records for a Disney film in the UK ($26.6m), France ($17.7m), Germany ($16.8m) and Australia ($9.9m).

Updated totals including Monday takes put At World's End at $34m in the UK; $21.6m in France; $20m in Germany; $19.4m in Korea; $15.6m in Russia; $12.2m in Spain; $10.5m in Australia; $10.3m in Mexico; and $10.1m in Italy.

In North America, the film played in a record 4,362 theatres, giving it a per-theatre average, based on the $142m four-day total, of $32,566. It got mixed reviews and was hindered at the box office by its two-and-three-quarter hour running time and by competition from recent blockbuster holdovers Spider-Man 3 and Shrek The Third. It still, however, grossed more than twice as much as its nearest domestic rival.

Shrek The Third grossed an estimated $69.1m over the four-day holiday weekend, from 4,172 theatres (for a $16,599 average). Its domestic total reached $219.4m. The DreamWorks Animation comedy, distributed by Paramount, was 43% down on last week, though last week's figure was for three days only.

Sony's Spider-Man 3 grossed an estimated $18m from 3,723 theatres (average $4,834), 38% down. Its total reached $303.3m.

The weekend's only other new release, Lionsgate's Bug, took $4.2m over four days, from 1,661 screens (average $2,529). The horror thriller, with William Friedkin directing Ashley Judd, got decent reviews but had a tough time standing up to its blockbuster competition.

Elsewhere in the domestic top ten, Fox Searchlight's Waitress made a profitable counter-programming move, tripling its screen count to 510 and grossing an estimated $4m (average $7,843), pushing the film into the top ten at number five with a $6.5m domestic total.

Buena Vista's thirteen-week-old comedy Wild Hogs also got a boost, doubling its weekend take to $1.4m from 426 screens (average - $3,380) and sneaking back into the chart at number ten. Its total climbed to $163.3m.

Next weekend's wide releases are: Universal's raunchy romantic comedy Knocked Up, written and directed by Judd Apatow and with Seth Rogan starring; MGM's thriller Mr Brooks, with Kevin Costner, William Hurt and Demi Moore starring for director Bruce A Evans; and, on around 1,000 screens, Picturehouse drama Gracie, which has Davis Guggenheim directing Carly Schroeder as a female soccer player.

Estimated Top 10 North America May 25-28, 2007

Film (Distributor)/International distribution/Estimated weekend gross/Estimated total to date

1 (-) Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (Buena Vista) BVI $142.1m $156.1m

2 (1) Shrek The Third (Paramount) PPI $69.1m $219.4m

3 (2) Spider-Man 3 (Sony) SPRI $18m $307.6m

4 (-) Bug (Lionsgate) Lionsgate $4.2m -

5 (12) Waitress (Fox Searchlight) Fox Intl $4m $6.5m

6 (3) 28 Weeks Later (Fox) Fox Intl $3.3m $24.4m

7 (5) Disturbia (Paramount) PPI $2.4m $74.9m

8 (4) Georgia Rule (Universal) Morgan Creek Intl $2.4m $16.8m

9 (6) Fracture (New Line) NLI $1.6m $37.1m

10 (17) Wild Hogs (Buena Vista) BVI $1.4m $163.3m

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