Pirates of the Caribbean is a Disney media franchise encompassing numerous theme park rides, a series of films, and spin-off novels, as well as a number of related video games and other media publications. The franchise originated with Walt Disney's theme park ride of the same name, which opened at Disneyland in 1967 and was one of the last Disneyland attractions overseen by Walt Disney. Disney based the ride on pirate legends, folklore and novels, such as those by Italian writer Emilio Salgari. The rides can be found at five Disney theme park resorts.
Pirates of the Caribbean became a media franchise in the 2000s with the release of The Curse of the Black Pearl in 2003; it was followed by four sequels. Produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and originally written by screenwriters Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, the films have grossed over $4.5 billion worldwide by 2019, putting the film franchise 16th in the list of all-time highest-grossing franchises and film series. The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise is also one of the highest-grossing media franchises of all time.
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Rides and attractions
Pirates of the Caribbean
Pirates of the Caribbean is a dark ride at Disneyland, Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom, Tokyo Disneyland, and Disneyland Park at Disneyland Paris. Opening on March 18, 1967, the Disneyland version of Pirates of the Caribbean was the last ride that Walt Disney himself participated in designing, debuting three months after his death. The ride gave rise to the song "Yo Ho (A Pirate's Life for Me)" written by George Bruns and Xavier Atencio, and performed on the ride's recording by The Mellomen.
Pirate's Lair on Tom Sawyer Island
Pirate's Lair on Tom Sawyer Island is a rebranding of Tom Sawyer Island, an artificial island surrounded by the Rivers of America at Disneyland, Magic Kingdom and Tokyo Disneyland. It contains structures and caves with references to Mark Twain characters from the novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and provides interactive, climbing, and scenic opportunities. At Disneyland in 2007, Disney added references to the Pirates of the Caribbean film series.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for the Sunken Treasure
Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for the Sunken Treasure is a magnetic powered dark ride at Shanghai Disneyland. It uses a storyline based on the Pirates of the Caribbean film series. It blends digital large-screen projection technology with traditional set pieces and audio animatronics. Walt Disney Imagineering designed the ride and Industrial Light & Magic created the computer-generated visual effects.
Film series
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006)
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007)
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011)
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017)
Untitled sixth Pirates of the Caribbean film (2026)
Untitled spin-off film (TBA)
Video games
Pirates of the Caribbean (originally entitled Sea Dogs II) was released in 2003 by Bethesda Softworks to coincide with the release of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. Although it had no relation to the characters, it features the film's storyline about cursed Aztec gold and undead pirates, and it was the first of several games to be based on the franchise.
The Kingdom Hearts video game series includes Port Royal as a world in Kingdom Hearts II, adapting the story of The Curse of the Black Pearl. The world returns as The Caribbean in Kingdom Hearts III, this time adapting the story of At World's End. In both games Jack Sparrow appears as a party member of the protagonist, Sora.
Pirates of the Caribbean Multiplayer Mobile for mobile phones.
Pirates of the Caribbean Online a massively multiplayer online role-playing game which was released in October 2007.
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl for Game Boy Advance (Nintendo) and a few others. This game is based on Captain Jack Sparrow's misadventures in the pursuit of saving Ria Anasagasti with his shipmate Will Turner.
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow was released for the PlayStation 2 console and for PC.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, was released for the Nintendo DS, PlayStation Portable, Game Boy Advance and others.
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End was released on May 22, 2007, and was based on the film of the same name which was released on May 25. It was the first game in the series to be released for a seventh generation console.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Armada of the Damned, an action and role playing video game, was being developed by Propaganda Games but was cancelled in October 2010.
Books
Two series of young reader books have been released as prequels to the first film:
Pirates of the Caribbean: Jack Sparrow written under the shared pseudonym of Rob Kidd (13 books, 2006 - 2009)
Pirates of the Caribbean: Legends of the Brethren Court written by Tui T. Sutherland writing under the pseudonym of Rob Kidd (5 books, 2008–2010)
In addition there is a novel taking place between the two series:
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Price of Freedom by Ann C. Crispin
Novelizations
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003 junior novelization) by Irene Trimble
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2006 junior novelization)
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest: Swann Song
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest: The Chase is On
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest: The Curse of Davy Jones
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (junior novelization, 2006) by Irene Trimble
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (junior novelization, 2007) by Tui T. Sutherland
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End: Singapore!
Comic books
The Pirates of the Caribbean comic series by Joe Books Ltd:
The Guardians of Windward Cove
Smoke on the Water
Banshee's Boon
Mother of Water
Beyond Port Royal
Comic book adaptions:
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (comic)
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (comic)
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales: Movie Graphic Novel
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (comic)
Comics have also been published in the Disney Adventures and Pirati dei Caraibi magazines.
Adaptations
Several additional works have been derived from the franchise:
In 2000, Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for Buccaneer Gold, opened at DisneyQuest at Florida's Walt Disney World Resort. The ride allows up to five players to board a virtual pirate ship and attempt to sink other ships with water cannons.
A Pirates of the Caribbean board game Monopoly is manufactured by USAopoly.
A Pirates of the Caribbean version of the board game The Game of Life was developed.
A Pirates of the Caribbean version of the board game Battleship is produced by Hasbro under the title of Battleship Command.
Pirates of the Caribbean was the name of a team participating in the 2005–2006 Volvo Ocean Race. Their boat was named the Black Pearl.
Two Pirates of the Caribbean pinball machines have been produced: one in 2006 by Stern and one in 2018 by Jersey Jack.