'Pirates Of The Caribbean': What's The Fate Of The Franchise?

Johnny Depp is looking to hold off after 'On Stranger Tides' breaks box-office records,but a seaworthy script could rope him back in.

While"Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides"opened to$90.1 million this weekend, showing the franchise has perhaps sprung a leak domestically in its fourth installment, the new film set a five-day international opening record of $256.3 million.

Disney is reportedly convinced this latest"Pirates" could pass the $654 million international total for 2007's "At World's End." The takeaway from all this box-officechatter is we likely haven't seen the last of the swashbuckling series.

In fact, development on a fifth film is already under way, with a draft of a script from Terry Rossio, who also penned "On Stranger Tides," in the hands of Disney execs and both director Rob Marshall and producer Jerry Bruckheimer signaling their interest in returning to franchise. The question, however, is whether or not starJohnny Depp will reprise his roleas Jack Sparrow.

He recently made clear he doesn't want to dive back in any time soon. "It boils down to story, script and filmmaker," Depp toldThe Hollywood Reporter."It's not something where I would say, 'Let's shoot it next month to get it out by Christmas 2012.' We should hold off for a bit. They should be special, just like they are special to me."

Those sentiments neatly echo whatDepp had to say back in 2009, after three-time director Gore Verbinski departed the series and the actor told us, following a statement in which he admitted to feeling less enthusiastic about a fourth "Pirates" film, "If there's a script and a story that is outside of what we've done before and it's worthy of the audience's attention, I would definitely do it."

In the near term, Depp's schedule is packed. He's currently shooting"Dark Shadows,"an adaptation of the 1960s-era supernatural soap opera, with director Tim Burton. And it appears his long-gestating "Lone Ranger" is finally moving forward, with Verbinski in the director's chair, "Social Network" star Armie Hammer playing the titular hero and Depp becoming sidekick Tonto. What's more, Depp is planning to reunite with Marshall for a remake of"The Thin Man,"the ****c 1934 screwball mystery tale

When, and how, "Pirates 5" fits into Depp's schedule, then, remains to be seen. Nobody, though, expects the film to push forward without its iconic hero in the mix. "Johnny is enormously popular. He's the center of the franchise. He is the franchise," producer Jerry Bruckheimer told theLos Angeles Timesbefore the film opened. "Hopefully, if this one does well, [Depp] will want to come back and play the character again. But it's gonna depend on the screenplay. It always does. He's maniacal about not wanting to disappoint his audience."

The question is, "Will Disney relize that the new Director doesn't know how to make a Pirates of the Caribbean movie." And yes, Johnny better be in it. And please put in Elizabeth and Will.

I'll be the first to say hurrah I suppose.

There are going to be 6 total POTC movies.

But the new 3 are suppoed to be standalone pictures.

Another long-running franchise in which the pump out the movies as if on a factory line, as Peter Travers would say, "untouched by human hands."

If something is profitable, why do you think they wouldn't milk everything they can out of it? foxhound_fox

If you love the series then why wouldn't you want to see another adventure with Captain Jack Sparrow and the familiar popular characters? Would you rather see a reboot of the whole series with brand new characters (including a different actor playing Captain Jack Sparrow) in half a decade or another installments with familliar characters?

This franchise is going to be bled for every drop it's worth.

The first trilogy was good. This movie wasn't nearly as good.

I haven't seen 4 yet, but I was apprehensive when I heard about it. I guess I'll reserve judgement for when I actually see it, but 5 doesn't really sound like a good idea either.

Then again, I would see a movie because I've seen previous ones, no matter how horrible I hear it is. If I'm like that, then there's definitely other people like that and I'm sure it would be lucrative in the end.

I loved the first, second was ok, third was meh, fourth was pretty good. I wish they had the same mindset as Depp does. It sounds like they want to push them out as fast as possible.

You should know by now that in Hollywood if something makes a huge profit, they will continue pumping out the sequels, prequels, and remakes until the money well dries up.

interesting. i certainly did enjoy the 4th film. i hope they can keep the pace going and not stifle it.

The first was the only good one

More pirates please, less ninjas. :D

pirates 4 was a step in the right direction. if they can improve upon it with the next movie, and then improve on that movie with the final entry, we might see something that is on par with the first movie.

People like pirates, and there really hasn't been a movie(s) of it's kind or caliber that I can think of. Disney knows they can make good money off of it, hence 6 movies.

As a person who can't stand a single one of the Pirates movies, I realize I'm probably in the minority. I was just completely disappointed in them. I thought the casting was great. The costumes and stage sets were amazing. Even the music was great. I just never was able to get sucked into the movies. Maybe it was the writing or the overall stories. I don't know, but I just found the whole thing a disappointment.

just stop with the movies already. i saw the first three movies, first one was good, second one sucked, third one sucked, i don't need to see the rest to know that they're probably not worth my time

So? how is this one guys, does anyone have seen it? as long as the movies are still good, then ok, go for it.

I liked the first trilogy, let's hope this new trilogy is as good as the first.

I love the movies and hope there are more. I am not one of those people that feel the need to analyse all the movies and think only the first one is good. All 4 movies are incredibly fun and thats all I expect from them.

If something is profitable, why do you think they wouldn't milk everything they can out of it? foxhound_fox

Look at the Saw franchise. Why stop what's making money? It's ****** but true.metallica_fan42

All saw had was a nice concept though. Pirates atleast has nice characters.

I'll definitely be watching it when it comes out.

I choose not to go see the newest Pirates movie because of the awful reviews. I absolutely loved the first three, although the first two moreso than the third. I really wish they could get the original director and some good writers because the premise is great and a character like Jack Sparrow comes along once in a lifetime.

Did Stranger Tides really get crap reviews? I really liked it. Not as much as the first but better than the 2nd and 3rd. The world got fleshed out more, Jack Sparrow had some character development (both subtle and non-subtle, I'm under the impression he really DID give up on the fountain of youth because of integrity and somesuch, whereas a movie 2 or 1 Jack Sparrow probably wouldn't have cared about the "ritual".) and it even continued the theme of Mortality/Immortality that permeates the franchise.

I AM interested in seeing exactly how Christianity plays in future films, as they have been seeming to get more religious with each one. It was used as a very good world-building technique in this movie, as religion wasn't touched on so much in past movies besides that adorable "It's the Bibke you get credit for trying" scene. (As a Christian, I was biting my nails through OST hoping they wouldn't pull something that would dissapoint me after introducing the missionary character. Luckily they only pulled one stunt that I let slide because of an un-addressed stipulation, that being every soul can be saved as long as they repent, and at the point in the movie this was brought up the missionary could have merely assumed that Blackbeard was beyond a point where he would repent.)

As for Elizabeth and Will, they ran their course in my modest opinion. I think an expanded universe type deal would be fitting for those characters, but I wouldn't want to see them as central players in the movie franchise again.

pirates 4 was a step in the right direction. if they can improve upon it with the next movie, and then improve on that movie with the final entry, we might see something that is on par with the first movie.

arbitor365

Why not open o a scene of blackbeard taking the Black Pearl and Barbossas leg?

Where, why and who is that priest from? They just randomly threw him in tied to the mast.

Why not go deeper in to the magical sword?

That's just scratching the surface and all of those are MAJOR points they should have addressed. The movie was the worst of the 4 and one of the worst movies I've seen this year without a doubt.

I don't like alot of movies but I'm very excited to see this one and the new X-men

Pirates 1 and 2 were great.

Pirates 3 was too long.

I refuse to see Pirates 4.

Pirates 5 better have Chris Nolan at the helm if they want any interest whatsoever in that film.

[QUOTE="arbitor365"]

pirates 4 was a step in the right direction. if they can improve upon it with the next movie, and then improve on that movie with the final entry, we might see something that is on par with the first movie.

F1ame_Shie1d

Why not open o a scene of blackbeard taking the Black Pearl and Barbossas leg?

Where, why and who is that priest from? They just randomly threw him in tied to the mast.

Why not go deeper in to the magical sword?

That's just scratching the surface and all of those are MAJOR points they should have addressed. The movie was the worst of the 4 and one of the worst movies I've seen this year without a doubt.