Pirates of the Caribbean sequel plunders N. American box office

Johnny Depp's roguish swashbuckler Jack Sparrow sailed past box-office records this weekend, with the second instalment of the Pirates of the Caribbean film series taking more than $130 million US in its opening weekend.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest took in $135.6 million US at North American theatres. The previous opening-weekend record washeld by 2002's Spider-Man, which made just under $115 million US.

The sequel also set a new record for single-day box office take, scoring $55.5 million US on Friday. That beatthe $50-million US record set last year by Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith.

The smashing success of the Pirates opening surprised even blockbuster producer Jerry Bruckheimer.

"When people in the industry predicted these high numbers, I thought they were just trying to be mean. So no matter how good we did, if we did $100 million, we'd be failures," Bruckheimer said Sunday.

"I didn't think we'd get near these numbers."

Executives at Disney, which based the film series on its Pirates of the Caribbean theme park ride, attributed the sequel's success to its wide appeal formen and women of all age groups.

"It is straight across the board," said Chuck Viane, Disney's head of distribution. "Everybody's coming."

While Pirates also topped the charts in several international markets, it has been rejected by one of the world's biggest China because of violence and its supernatural content, reported Chinese media and Reuters.

However, a source told the Beijing News thatthe film could still pass a second examination.

The first film, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, screened in China in November 2003.

The Chinese government's film bureau typically approves about 20 foreign-made films for screening in its theatres each year, but bootleg versions of Western hits are widely available soon after their releases in North America or Europe.