Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest dropped 54% in its second weekend of release, but still earned an estimated $62.2 million while racing past X-Men: The Last Stand's year-to-date top total of $231 million by driving its massive Pirate booty stash to $258.2 in just ten days of release.  It is exceedingly unlikely that any of the films scheduled for release during the rest of this year will have a chance to catch the second Pirates movie, which continues to play to a very balanced (and very large) demographic.  Dropping 54% might seem like a lot, but when a film opens with $136 million, it's bound to have a considerable drop in its second frame--and Pirates still managed an incredibly muscular $15,000 per theater.

The only race in question is the race for second place and Pixar's Cars, playing the tortoise to X-3's hare, earned $7.5 million in its sixth weekend of release and passed the Da Vinci Code ($214 million) while running its total to $219 million.

Superman Returns is not a contender for second place, but it has been demonstrating some legs especially in the IMAX venues (where it is shown in partial 3-D).   Supes fell to fourth place, but still added $11.6 million, bringing its total to $163.6 million.

Warner Independent's innovative adaptation of Philip K. Dick's A Scanner Darkly expanded from 17 theaters to 216 and still managed a solid $5,500 per venue.  As ICv2 has previously indicated this is the sort of film that will find a devoted 'cult' audience and sell a lot of books in conjunction with both its theatrical and DVD releases.