DISNEY SAILING SEA OF FILM WINS $13.5 MILLION OPENING DAY FOR 'PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN'.

Byline: Greg Hernandez Staff Writer

Stunning the movie industry, Disney's ``Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl'' earned a swashbuckling $13.5 million on its opening day, besting the first-day for ``Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines'' and landing among the top 10 Wednesday openings of all time.

With the movie industry in a box office slump for more than a month and pirate-themed movies bombing at the box office for years, expectations had been somewhat muted for ``Pirates.'' The live-action adventure film stars Johnny Depp and was inspired by the classic Disneyland theme park attraction.

``It had a sensational opening day,'' said Brandon Gray, president of BoxOfficeMojo.com. ``It's definitely going to give the industry a boost. This seems to be a movie people are excited about.''

What makes the Wednesday grosses for ``Pirates'' all the more impressive is that it opened during a nonholiday weekend. Most of the movies ahead of it on the all-time list such as ``Jurassic Park III,'' ``Men In Black II,'' and ``Independence Day'' opened during holiday weekends.

In ``Pirates,'' Depp plays a charming rogue pirate in the film set in the Caribbean Sea in the 17th century. Receiving generally positive reviews from critics, ``Pirates'' opened in 3,023 theaters at midnight Wednesday and expands to 3,269 screens Friday.

``When you have a picture that plays as well as this, you try and go out a little early and let the public help you with their word of mouth,'' Chuck Viane, president of Disney's Buena Vista Distribution, said of the decision to launch the film midweek.

Warner Bros.' ``T3'' earned $12.5 million when it opened the previous Wednesday and had earned $87.1 million as of Wednesday. In general, recent sequels and franchise films including ``The Hulk'' and ``Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle'' have underperformed at the box office and contributed to a growing malaise at the multiplex.

``This is what was really needed after several weeks in the doldrums,'' Gray said. ``It's just something different in the marketplace where everything was the same. This is a kick in the pants, but it may not mean the summer is going to turn around.''

For Disney, ``Pirates'' looks to build on an outstanding summer for the studio behind the year's biggest box office hit, ``Finding Nemo,'' which has earned $280.7 million and remains firmly in the top four after more than five weeks in theaters.

``It's what we all hoped for,'' Viane said. ``We knew we had a pretty special film.''

Greg Hernandez, [phone]

greg.hernandez(at)dailynews.com

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(color) Orlando Bloom, as swashbuckler Will Turner, braves the Caribbean to stop a ship of pirates who plan to break an ancient curse in the newly released movie.