It is official, the Disney movie "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest", has had the most successful opening weekend in Box Office history. In a time when people are talking about the demise of “Old Media” and the slump at the box office, “Pirates” comes along and grosses $136 million over three days in the US and Canada.
 
Total revenue for the movie industry is up 6.4% from the same point in 2005 after eight straight weekends of year-over-year gains. About this time a year ago Hollywood was sweating it out and had doubts about whether it could still attract big crowds to theaters amid illegal copying and growing competition for entertainment spending.
"People were saying the theatrical moviegoing experience might be going the way of the dinosaur," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Exhibitor Relations Co. in Encino to the LA Times. "This result shows that people still want to go out to the theater — they just need a compelling reason."
 
Speaking of illegal copying, there are successful pirates in other places than the Caribbean. The Sweden-based file-sharing website ”The Pirate Bay” that was closed down by police is up and running again and selling more advertising than ever. In fact, the publicity the police-raid caused lead to that the number of visitors to increased dramatically and Pirate Bay raised the prices of ad space on the site accordingly.
 
According to the Swedish Newspaper ”Svenska Dagbladet” the most expensive ad on the site now costs the equivalent of $27,000. The company ”Eastpoint” that sells advertising space on the site for the Nordic market has sold advertising for almost $90,000 per month over the last few months. The total advertising revenue is believed to be much higher, since the site is available in 25 languages and has site visitors from all over the world.