Pirates of the Caribbean

Films

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)

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.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006)

Lord Cutler Beckett of the East India Trading Company arrests Will and Elizabeth for aiding Captain Jack Sparrow in the previous film. Beckett offers clemency if Will agrees to search for Jack's compass in a bid to find the Dead Man's Chest—and inside, the heart of villainous Davy Jones—which would give Beckett control of the seas. However, Jack wants the Chest to escape from an unpaid debt with Jones, who made Jack captain of the Black Pearl for 13 years in exchange for 100 years of service aboard Jones' ship, the Flying Dutchman. Jack's debt is complicated by both Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann, who follow him out to sea.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007)

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.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011)

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.

The film is based on the 1987 novel On Stranger Tides by Tim Powers.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017)

A group of ghostly Spanish 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. The film was released in many countries as Pirates of the Caribbean: Salazar's Revenge.

Future

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, although ultimately only the fifth installment was developed. By March 2017, director Joachim Rønning 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. That September, producer Jerry Bruckheimer indicated that another Pirates of the Caribbean was still in development. In October of the same year, Kaya Scodelario stated that she was contractually signed to return for a second film. Rønning was reportedly set to direct the film.

In 2018, a sixth film was still in the works at Disney. That same year, Keira Knightley said she did not see herself returning for another installment because she is a mother now and that the films take too long to shoot. In October 2019, Disney announced that Craig Mazin and Ted Elliott would write Pirates of the Caribbean 6. In May 2020, Bruckheimer commented that the first draft of the screenplay for the sixth film would soon be finished. 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.

In February 2023, Orlando Bloom had expressed interest in returning to the franchise. 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". Bruckheimer was also still interested in potentially bringing back Depp to the saga. In June, Depp was reportedly open to returning to the series if the project proves worthwhile.

In August 2023, Craig Mazin stated that he had 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 development of the sixth installment.

In March 2024, Bruckheimer stated that the sixth film would be a reboot. Despite this, two months later, Bruckheimer hoped to see Depp return.

Short film

Pirates of the Caribbean: Tales of the Code: Wedlocked (2011)

Pirates of the Caribbean: Tales of the Code: Wedlocked is a live-action short directed by James Ward Byrkit. There were many proposed titles, including Wedding Belles and Pirate Belles. Although it was only included as a special feature in the US 15-disc 3D Blu-ray/2D Blu-ray/DVD + Digital Copy box set that includes the first four films released on October 18, 2011, it was also released in the similar UK five-disc set. Jim Byrkit conceived the idea for a short film while on the Shipwreck Cove set Rick Heinrichs designed for Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007), a project which interested Brigham Taylor at Disney. Screenwriters Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio collaborated with Byrkit on the script, having envisioned something based on the Pirate Code Book as a device that could tie into other stories later. The short film was shot by cinematographer Nic Sadler. As the pirate cove sets from At World's End—where the short film takes place—were set to be demolished, the short project was prepped in a matter of days and shot over three days in late 2006. In 2023, Rossio wrote on Wordplay that Tales of the Code was designed to be a series of a few fun shorts to fill in the Pirates universe and add to the DVD extras section. He also said that, in addition to Wedlocked, there are a few scripts around that were a part of that process.

The short film Wedlocked serves as a prequel to Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, inspired by the auction scene in the Disneyland attraction. Two wenches believe they are both betrothed to Jack Sparrow, but he has secretly traded them to the auctioneer for a fancy hat. They think the auctioneer is raising money for them, when in actuality they are being sold as brides to the highest bidder. Wedlocked had several Pirates veterans reprise their roles, like Vanessa Branch as Giselle, Lauren Maher as Scarlett, and David Bailie reprising his role as Cotton. The 10 minute short also featured John Vickery as the auctioneer and Dale Dickey as Oona the wench, as well as three pirates—Marquis D'avis, Atencio, and Slurry Gibson—who are named after Marc Davis, Xavier Atencio, and Blaine Gibson, the Imagineers who worked on the original attraction.

Cast and crew

Production

Development

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. 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.

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, 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. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer rejected Wolpert's script, feeling it was "a straight pirate movie". In March 2002, Disney brought Beattie in to rewrite the script, due to his knowledge of piracy. 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. Elliott and Rossio, inspired by the opening narration of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, decided to give the film a supernatural edge.

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. 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 Pepé 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.

Reception

Box office performance

The Pirates of the Caribbean film series was successful at the box office, with each film grossing over $650 million, and all but Dead Men Tell No Tales at some point ranking among the fifty highest-grossing films of all time. It became the first ever series to have multiple films passing the billion dollar mark in box office revenues with Dead Man's Chest and On Stranger Tides, since followed by other film franchises.

The Curse of the Black Pearl was the third-highest-grossing 2003 film in North America, behind The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King and Finding Nemo, and fourth worldwide, behind The Return of the King, Finding Nemo and The Matrix Reloaded. Dead Man's Chest was the most successful film of 2006 worldwide. At World's End led the worldwide grosses in 2007, though being only fourth in North America, behind Spider-Man 3, Shrek the Third and Transformers.

On Stranger Tides was the third-highest-grossing film of 2011 worldwide, behind Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 and Transformers: Dark of the Moon, and the fifth in North America. The first three sequels broke box office records upon release, of which the most notable are the opening-weekend record in North America (Dead Man's Chest), the Memorial-Day weekend record in North America (At World's End) and the opening-weekend record outside North America (On Stranger Tides).

Critical and public response

The series is noted for its high quality of acting talent. The visual and practical effects are considered some of the best ever done on film, so much so that audiences believed certain CGI elements of the films were real and done practically. However, the plots of the four sequels have received mixed reviews, with the general consensus that they are too bloated and convoluted to follow. Pirates of the Caribbean is noted for reinvigorating the pirate film genre after decades of either no pirate films or failed pirate films. The success of the series saw Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer try to replicate the franchise's success by releasing other big budget adventure films such as Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and The Lone Ranger, the latter of which was directed by Gore Verbinski. Both of them have failed to achieve critical or financial success.

Accolades

Together, the first three films were nominated for a total of 11 Academy Awards, of which a single award was won.

Together, all the five films were nominated for a total of 2 Golden Globe Awards, of which neither were won.

Together, all the first three films were nominated for a total of 13 MTV Movie Awards, of which 4 were won.

Together, the first four films were nominated for a total of 32 Teen Choice Awards, of which 17 were won.

Music