Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, the fifth installment in Disney’s swashbuckling franchise, became the lowest-earning entry in the series since the original when it was released in 2017, which was perhaps a sign that audiences weren’t as interested in the adventures of Jack Sparrow as they had been for the last decade and a half. However, a box office haul of almost $800m showed that the brand was still capable of turning a profit.
Since Disney now seemingly dominates every corner of popular culture, and the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise has grossed over $4.5bn at the box office to date, there was little chance that the crew of the Black Pearl would ever really disappear from our screens. In fact, a reboot has been discussed for a while now, which may or may not feature Johnny Depp, but seemed to be in a state of limbo after Zombieland and Deadpool writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wenick quit the project earlier this year.
However, it looks like the Pirates of the Caribbean reboot may be back on track, with franchise scribe Terry Rossio set to develop the movie alongside Chernobyl creator Craig Mazin. Mazin received huge critical acclaim and two Emmys for his work on the hit HBO miniseries, but also has a less-than-encouraging history as a screenwriter with credits on the likes of Scary Movie 3 and 4, The Hangover Part III and The Huntsman: Winter’s War.
At this point, Disney should just let the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise sail off into the sunset. The studio has more than enough IP to work with, and none of the four sequels came anywhere close to recapturing the magic of the original and suffered from reviews that could be described as mediocre at best. It also happens to be one of Hollywood’s most expensive franchises, with over $1.2bn spent on bringing the world of pirates to life, and Disney would be much better off investing their money elsewhere on something that audiences aren’t already burned out on. At least, that’s my opinion.
