Pirates Of The Caribbean was the runaway international champion at the weekend as itgrossed $38.5m to raise its running total to $189.9 for Buena VistaInternational (BVI).

The film opened number one in Germany on a staggering $11.2m from958 screens, scoring the distributor's and producer Jerry Bruckheimer's biggestever bow there.

In Italy it went straight to the top on a mighty $6.3m from 594for BVI's and Bruckheimer's biggest ever opening in the territory.

Korea opened number one on $2.1m from 173 for BVI's second biggestever bow.

Austria's number one opening produced $1.7m from 82 for anotherBVI all-time territory record.

Leading a series of impressive holdovers was Japan, where Pirates added $1.9m in its sixth week anddropped 26% for a sensational $46m running total.

In its fifth week in the UK the film grossed $2.4m and stayednumber one and dropped 25% for a $33.9m total.

Fourth weekends yielded $1.6m and a 54% drop in France for $17.8mand $1.5m and a 30% drop for $18.3m in Spain.

In second weekend sessions Pirates added $900,000 and a 15% drop for $3.2min Sweden and $685,000 and a 31% drop for $2.1m in Brazil.

Bruce Almighty took $7m at the weekend to raise its current total to $185m.

The chief driver here was a table-topping $5.4m opening on 500screens in France for BVI's third biggest ever bow and a record opening forstar Jim Carrey.

Turkey also opened number one on $575,000 from 80 and thedistributor's biggest ever debut in the territory.

The comedy stayed number one for the fourth weekend in a row inArgentina, where it added $225,000 for a $2.1m cumulative score.

Finding Nemo took $4.8m at the weekend for a $76.2m running total. In itssecond week in Australia it remained number one, adding $3.8m despite a 26%drop for $10.2m.

The animated adventure opened number one in New Zealand on$790,000 from 72 for the biggest ever opening for an animated title, which thedistributor claimed was 40% bigger than that of Shrek.

In an exclusiverelease in the UK Calendar Girls grossed $125,000. It goes wide in 500 theatres this weekend.