"Dead Man's Chest" sets new box office record

"Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" taking a record $132 million in its first three days, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Walt Disney Pictures will announce within the next 10 days that it's cutting back on the number of films it makes to around eight per year -- it currently releases around 18 -- and will substantially reduce its workforce. All movies will be Disney-branded; meaning companies like Touchstone could be vastly diminished.

The cutbacks will be far greater than many anticipated, as studio chairman Dick Cook looks to reinvent the architecture of his studio. The move reflects an effort to improve the studio's return on investment and get infrastructure back into line.

The success of the first "Pirates of the Caribbean" in 2003 took many people by surprise. The success of its sequel should surprise no one, even though it doesn't come up to the standard of its predecessor. To girls of a certain age, and their mothers, the words "Johnny Depp" sound like an incantation, eye shadow or not. To all the rest of us, there's an ironic detachment in Depp's Jack Sparrow, a wink to the wise moviegoer that somehow fills theaters and, at the same time, sends up the whole of Hollywood's efforts to understand its audience.

Disney's will have a grand summer with "Pirates" and with Pixar's Cars.