`PIRATES' KEEPING ITS NO. 1 POSITION.

Byline: GREG HERNANDEZ Staff Writer

``Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest'' became the first summer movie since 2001 to spend three weekends as number one, with the blockbuster sequel easily holding off a crowded field and surpassing the $300 million mark in domestic grosses faster than any other movie in history, according to studio estimates released Sunday.

The Disney-released ``Pirates'' grossed an estimated $35.5 million to bring its 17-day total to $321.7 million, already more than the $305 million earned three years ago during the entire run of ``Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl.'' The sequel passed the $300 million mark one day faster than previous record-holder ``Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith.''

``To get the $300 million record is truly one of those records you cherish, and it puts you in very good company,'' said Chuck Viane, president of Disney's Buena Vista Distribution. ``There's no question that people are going a second or third time. But when a movie seeps its way into the public consciousness, you are getting people who might be hearing about it from their neighbors -- people who might only see two or three movies a year.''

Of the four new releases, second-place ``Monster House'' outperformed ``Lady in the Water,'' which is M. Night Shyamalan's latest mystery, as well as the sequel ``Clerks II'' and the comedy ``My Super Ex-Girlfriend.''

The animated ``Monster,'' the first new movie for kids since the release of ``Cars'' in June, successfully stepped into the family-film void to debut with a better-than-expected $23 million in revenue -- $2.6 million of that total was from special 3-D presentations, according to estimates from Sony Pictures Entertainment.

``We had hoped to be in the $20 million range,'' said Rory Bruer, Sony's president of domestic distribution. ``We're very, very happy with the number and to have our eighth film this year open at $20 million or more.''

To be beaten so decisively by ``Pirates'' and ``Monster'' was a nightmare for third-place ``Lady,'' which bowed with a surprisingly low $18.2 million.

The critically blasted ``Lady'' had landed at Warner Bros. after former Disney production chief Nina Jacobson, fired from her job last week, famously clashed over the script with Shyamalan, writer-director of the hits ``The Sixth Sense,'' ``Signs,'' ``Unbreakable'' and ``The Village'' for Disney.

Warner Bros. distribution head Dan Fellman acknowledged that the opening ``fell short,'' as he worded it, but he refused to blame a crowed field for the film's poor reception.

``There was plenty of room for the box office to expand,'' Fellman said. ``(Shyamalan) has got a large and loyal fan base, and I believe they will come out and support him. We just didn't break through on opening weekend.''

Two holdover comedies took fourth place -- ``You, Me and Dupree'' -- and fifth place -- ``Little Man.''

``Dupree'' added $12.8 million for a two-week total of $45.3 million, while ``Man'' earned an estimated $11 million for a 10-day total of $40.6 million.

The weekend's new comedies had to settle for sixth (``Clerks II'') and seventh (``Super Ex-Girlfriend''). ``Clerks II,'' a Weinstein Co. sequel to a 1994 cult classic, took in an estimated $9.6 million.

``Ex-Girlfriend,'' starring Uma Thurman and Luke Wilson and released by 20th Century Fox, earned just $8.7 million playing in far more theaters than ``Clerks II.''

``This is a little soft, but the good news is that it had the biggest Friday-to-Saturday jump of any of the four new movies,'' said Bruce Snyder, Fox's president of distribution.

Better news for Fox was the continued strength of ``The Devil Wears Prada,'' which finished ninth but dropped by just 29 percent from the previous weekend. ``Prada,'' starring Meryl Streep, added $7.4 million to its total, which now stands at $97.6 million and is poised to cross the $100 million line later this week.

Weekend ticket sales for the top 12 movies were 10.8 percent higher than for the top 12 a year earlier. That makes the movie industry a winner this year over 2005 in 16 of the last 18 weekends, according to box office tracker Exhibitor Relations Co.

``There is a lot of competition out there, but `Pirates' is dominating and leaving all the newcomers to scramble to find an audience,'' said Exhibitor Relations President Paul Dergarabedian. ``But overall, it's another solid summer weekend.''

greg.hernandez(at)dailynews.com

[phone]

TOP MOVIES

Here are estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. Final figures will be released today.

1. ``Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest,'' $35 million.

2. ``Monster House,'' $23 million.

3. ``Lady in the Water,'' $18.2 million.

4. ``You, Me and Dupree,'' $12.8 million.

5. ``Little Man,'' $11 million.

6. ``Clerks II,'' $9.6 million.

7. ``My Super Ex-Girlfriend,'' $8.7 million.

8. ``Superman Returns,'' $7.46 million.

9. ``The Devil Wears Prada,'' $7.43 million.

10. ``Cars,'' $4.9 million.

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TOP MOVIES (see text)