LOS ANGELES: The third in the “Pirates” series, with Johnny Depp as swaggering Captain Jack Sparrow, busted opening week records in 16 countries from Argentina to Iceland, to Russia, Malaysia and Taiwan, Disney said.

It outpaced the previous world opening record of 382 million dollars racked up by “Spider-Man 3″ just four weeks ago — and the newest “Pirates” has yet to open in the world’s two most populous countries, China and India.

But it failed to break “Spider-Man 3’s” hold on the US and Canada weekend opening record of 151.1 million dollars, for a three-day weekend. “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” sold 139.8 million dollars in tickets over the four-day Memorial Day weekend, the unofficial opening of the summer movie season.