Depp and Keira Knightley, on their third trip over the bounding main in “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End,” raked in a swashbuckler’s fortune of US$142 million in U.S. and Canadian theaters between Friday and Monday, according to box-office watcher Exhibitor Relations.

“Shrek The Third” — in its second week on the screens — pulled in US$69 million, while “Spider-Man 3” had some US$18 million in ticket sales its fourth week in the theaters, the preliminary figures show.

Overall the weekend topped last year’s Memorial Day holiday showing by the leading 50 films by US$14 million, and the 2004 record of US$246 million, when “Shrek 2” and global warming disaster pic “The Day After Tomorrow” were headlining.

Coming in fourth for the weekend behind the three sure-thing sequels was the Ashley Judd-starring psychological thriller “Bug” in its debut weekend, earning US$4.2 million.

Surging to fifth on the back of rave reviews was the romantic comedy “Waitress,” which earned US$4 million in its fourth week following release.

In sixth place came another sequel, “28 Weeks Later,” following the 2003 British zombie thriller “28 Days Later,” which portrayed Britain being devastated by a deadly virus. “28 Weeks Later” earned US$3.3 million over the four days in its third week in theaters.

Trailing was teen thriller “Disturbia” with US$2.4 million; the Lindsay Lohan vehicle “Georgia Rule”, US$2.4 million; “Fracture” with US$1.6 million; and “Wild Hogs” with US$1.4 million.

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