Age For Pirates Of The Caribbean

[Queila Neubecker]

Thefilm series started in 2003 with Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, which had a positive reception from audiences and film critics. It grossed $654 million worldwide.[1] After the first film's success, Walt Disney Pictures announced that a film series was in the works. The franchise's second film, subtitled Dead Man's Chest, was released in 2006 and broke financial records worldwide the day of its premiere. Dead Man's Chest became the top-grossing movie of 2006 with almost $1.1 billion at the worldwide box office. The third film in the series, subtitled At World's End, followed in 2007 earning $960 million. Disney released a fourth film, subtitled On Stranger Tides, in 2011 in conventional 2D, Digital 3-D and IMAX 3D. On Stranger Tides succeeded in also grossing more than $1 billion,[1] becoming the second film in the franchise and only the eighth film in history to do this, at the time of release. A fifth film, subtitled Dead Men Tell No Tales, was released in 2017.

The franchise has grossed over $4.5 billion worldwide.[1] It is the 16th-highest-grossing film series of all time, and is the first film franchise to produce two or more movies that grossed over $1 billion.

Blacksmith Will Turner teams up with eccentric pirate Captain Jack Sparrow to save Turner's love, Elizabeth Swann, from cursed pirates led by Jack's mutinous former first mate, Hector Barbossa. Jack wants revenge against Barbossa, who left him stranded on an island before stealing his ship, the Black Pearl, along with 882 pieces of cursed Aztec Gold.

Lord Beckett gains power over Davy Jones and, with the help of the Flying Dutchman, he is now executing his plans to extinguish piracy forever. To stand against the East India Trading Co., Will, Elizabeth, Barbossa, and the crew of the Black Pearl set out to rescue Captain Jack Sparrow from Davy Jones' Locker. As one of the Nine Pirate Lords, Jack is needed in order to release an ancient goddess with the power to defeat Beckett's forces.

Captain Jack Sparrow is on a quest to find the fabled Fountain of Youth and crosses paths with a former lover, Angelica. She forces Jack aboard the Queen Anne's Revenge, a ship captained by the infamous pirate Blackbeard, Angelica's father. Both are also in search of the Fountain: Angelica to save her father's soul, Blackbeard to escape a prophecy of his demise at the hands of a one-legged man. Joining the hunt is former pirate captain Barbossa, now a privateer in King George II's Navy, who is in a race against the Spanish for the Fountain of Youth.

A group of ghostly Spanish Royal Navy soldiers led by Jack Sparrow's old nemesis, Captain Armando Salazar, escape from the Devil's Triangle, with the goal of killing every pirate at sea, including Sparrow. To survive, Sparrow seeks out the legendary Trident of Poseidon, a powerful artifact whose owner can control the seas and break curses.[2] The film was released in many countries as Pirates of the Caribbean: Salazar's Revenge.[3]

Shortly before the release of On Stranger Tides, it was reported that Disney was planning to shoot the fifth and the sixth films back-to-back,[4] although ultimately only the fifth installment was developed. By March 2017, director Joachim Rnning stated that Dead Men Tell No Tales was only the beginning of the final adventure, confirming that it would not be the last film of the series.[5] That September, producer Jerry Bruckheimer indicated that another Pirates of the Caribbean was still in development.[6]

In October of the same year, Kaya Scodelario stated that she was contractually signed to return for a sixth film.[7] It was confirmed that Rnning would direct the film.[8] In October 2019, Disney announced that Craig Mazin and Ted Elliott would write Pirates of the Caribbean 6.[9][10] In May 2020, Bruckheimer commented that the first draft of the screenplay for the sixth film would soon be finished.[11] On April 20, 2022, during his defamation trial against ex-wife Amber Heard, Depp stated he had no intention of returning to the franchise, citing his strained relationship with Disney after they had removed him from the franchise before a verdict was reached in the case.[12][13]

In February 2023, Orlando Bloom had expressed interest in returning to the franchise.[14][15][16] In March, Keira Knightley explained to Entertainment Tonight why she would not make a return to the Disney franchise. "What about Elizabeth Swann?", Knightley joked when asked if she would re-join the crew, also commenting that her character sailed away "in brilliant style".[17] Bruckheimer was also still interested in potentially bringing back Depp to the saga.[18][19] In June, Depp was reportedly open to returning to the series if the project proves worthwhile.[20]

In August 2023, Craig Mazin stated that he'd pitched a Pirates script to Disney, but that he would only commit to it if he was able to work with Ted Elliot; Mazin confirmed that his and Elliot's script was bought by Disney, also commenting that it was "too weird", but the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike had slowed production of the sixth installment.[21]

On May 20, 2024, Bruckheimer provided further clarification on the series's status. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, he confirmed that there were two different Pirates movies in production. The first is a reboot that he intends to produce with scriptwriter Jeff Nathanson, and the second is the Margot Robbie film that will be penned by Christina Hodson. He stated that he hoped both films would be made, and noted that Disney was particularly receptive to the Robbie-led film. In regards to the reboot, he confirmed that it would not follow characters from the previous films, but stated that he hoped Depp would make an appearance.[24]

A female-led spin-off was announced in June 2020, starring Margot Robbie with Christina Hodson writing the screenplay. The film is separate from the sixth film also being developed. Bruckheimer was attached as producer.[25] In November 2022, Robbie said the project was not going forward.[26][27] Bruckheimer then shared the following month that the project wasn't officially dead and that a sequel merely took priority.[28] He then later reiterated that it will still be made and has a "very strong story" but also needs "a little more work".[29]

Back in the early 1990s, Michael Frost Beckner and James Gorman pitched the script that would become Cutthroat Island to Michael Eisner as a potential Pirates of the Caribbean film, buoyed by support from development staff at Disney. Eisner turned it down, due to not wanting to mix the company's film and theme park divisions.[39] Almost a decade later, Walt Disney Pictures had Jay Wolpert write a script based on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride in 2001, which was based on a story created by Disney executives Brigham Taylor, Michael Haynes, and Josh Harmon. Stuart Beattie stated that he talked about making a pirate movie based on the ride while tossing a frisbee with a friend, and wrote a first draft titled "Quest for the Caribbean" while on exchange to Oregon State University in 1991.[40][41][42]

Screenwriters Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio notably thought about the pirate genre based on the ride during the early 1990s, having pitched the idea after completing work on the 1992 film Aladdin as a premise to studio executives,[43] but there was no interest from any studio. Undeterred, the writing team refused to give up the dream, waiting for a studio to pick up their take on a pirate tale.[44] Producer Jerry Bruckheimer rejected Wolpert's script, feeling it was "a straight pirate movie".[45] In March 2002, Disney brought Beattie in to rewrite the script, due to his knowledge of piracy.[46] Later that month Elliott and Rossio were brought in, having worked with Disney in Aladdin and the 2002 film Treasure Planet, among other successful films.[45] Elliott and Rossio, inspired by the opening narration of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, decided to give the film a supernatural edge.[47]

In June 2002, Gore Verbinski signed on to direct Pirates of the Caribbean, and Johnny Depp and Geoffrey Rush signed on the following month to star.[46] Verbinski was attracted to the idea of using modern technology to resurrect a genre, one that had disappeared after the Golden Age of Hollywood, and recalled his childhood memories of the ride, feeling the film was an opportunity to pay tribute to the "scary and funny" tone of it. Depp was attracted to the story as he found it quirky: rather than trying to find treasure, the crew of the Black Pearl were trying to return it in order to lift their curse, with the traditional mutiny having already taken place. Depp based Captain Jack Sparrow on a combination of The Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards and Looney Tunes cartoons, specifically the characters Bugs Bunny and Pep Le Pew. Verbinski approached Rush for the role of Captain Barbossa, whom Depp named "Hector" behind the scenes, as he knew he would not play it with attempts at complexity, but with a simple villainy that would suit the story's tone.[48]

Orlando Bloom read the script after Rush, with whom he was working on Ned Kelly, suggested it to him, and was cast as Will Turner.[49] Keira Knightley came as a surprise to Verbinski: he had not seen her performance in Bend It Like Beckham and was impressed by her audition for Elizabeth Swann.[48] Tom Wilkinson was one of several actors negotiated with to play Governor Swann,[46] but the role went to Jonathan Pryce, whom Depp idolized.[48] Further additions include Jack Davenport as James Norrington, Kevin R. McNally as Joshamee Gibbs, Zoe Saldaa as Anamaria, David Bailie as Cotton, Lee Arenberg and Mackenzie Crook as Pintel and Ragetti, Martin Klebba as Marty, David Bailie as Cotton, Giles New and Angus Barnett as Murtogg and Mullroy, Damian O'Hare as Lieutenant Gillette,[44] and Greg Ellis as then-unnamed Theodore Groves.[50]

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