The fourth Pirates of the Caribbean movie, On Stranger Tides, reaped $90.1 million in weekend sales at U.S. and Canadian theaters. According to Box Office Mojo, the movie generated $2.73 billion in worldwide ticket sales prior to the weekend.

Jeff Bock, a box-office analyst with Exhibitor Relations said, They gave audiences what they wanted, which was more Johnny Depp. This obviously sets up another sequel, according to San Francisco Chronicle's telephone interview. Bock expects the film driven by international markets to generate $850-900 million globally in sales.

Co-star Ian McShane joked, It must be kind of nice for him [Depp] to know that he can revisit this every two or three years and be paid more than the national debt of most countries, in an interview at Cannes according to the Los Angeles Times.

Although there was much criticism from critics, the box office revenue says otherwise of the movie-going public's opinion.

The Telegraph's Tim Robey charted the progression of reviews of the pirate saga from:

A huge epic, always intelligent, and one exhibiting far more ambition than anything we would normally expect to see at this time of the year. Pirates of the Caribbean features sword-wielding men who get soaked, orchidaceous young ladies, a rousing score, and special effects that are genuinely special and effective, via Sukhdev Sandhu's review of the first of the series.

To, Pirate pictures should be lean and mean, quick-on-the-scabbard. The filmmakers, though, perhaps forgetting that the first picture was little more than The Mask of Zorro at sea, have decided to get dark and mythic on us, also via Sukhdev Sandhu's review of Dead Man's Chest.

Then, A tedious, convoluted mess in which even Johnny Depp is struggling for inspiration...after roughly the 38th double-crossing which causes one character to be imprisoned while the rest sail off in search of some crusty relic, you do reach a point where enough is enough, from Tim Robey regarding At World's End.

And finally, for On Stranger Tides Robey writes, The movie...is at once more eager to please and all the more blatantly third-rate. It clomps along, doing all the baseline things you expect from it, and nothing besides.

However, other reviewers still have maintained interest in the swash-buckling series.

Peter Bradshaw of the Guardian remarks, On Stranger Tides, to give the film its specific title, is really quite long at just over two and a quarter hours, and some fans might feel that they are getting an awful lot of a good thing. But director Rob Marshall keeps the hellzapoppin' atmosphere bubbling and gives you plenty of cannon-bang and cutlass-slash for your buck. Depp's Sparrow is a genuinely funny character and Depp still puts the ho-ho into yo-ho-ho.

The Hollywood Reporter's Ray Bennett writes, At 136 minutes, the film is marginally the shortest in the series and it profits from that. Cruz is a wonderful addition and a teaser following the credits augers well for more so long as Depp continues to get as much enjoyment from playing the role as he gives to his audience.

Regarding the 3D element of the movie, Bennett also writes, Marshall and his team make good use of 3D in the exterior sequences so that London landmarks and rocky islands look magnificent. It is less successful when CGI is involved, however, as characters sometimes appear to be cut out figures.

Yet Robey reacts, This is the first of the series in 3D, and the main sense of waste - other than McShane, born to play a rotting pirate lord but settling for scraps - is how much gets lost in the murk. The lion's share of the action plays out at night, rendered double-dark behind the greying specs. A visual tedium sets in early. My eyelids drooped for long stretches in the middle, and even vampiric mermaids and a buff missionary were struggling to prise them open.

The sharp eyes of critics don't cut On Stranger Tides much slack. Even so, that doesn't hinder Disney from raking in the revenue as loyal fans, Depp disciples, and pirate partisans fill the theaters.

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