As popular as the movies continued to be from a commercial perspective, it wouldn’t be unfair to say that the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise was running on fumes by the time Dead Men Tell No Tales arrived back in the summer of 2017. Ironically, if it wasn’t for the massive popularity of Johnny Depp’s Captain Jack Sparrow, then there’s every chance audiences would have lost interest in the big budget swashbucklers a long time ago.
After all, The Curse of the Black Pearl took everyone by surprise when it quickly gained a well-deserved reputation as one of the most purely entertaining blockbusters of the 21st Century, landing Depp his first Academy Award nomination in the process. And sequel Dead Man’s Chest became just the third movie ever to reach a billion dollars at the box office, but At World’s End was a major disappointment that was overstuffed, awfully complicated and way too long.
On Stranger Tides and Dead Men Tell No Tales, meanwhile, saw the law of diminishing returns well and truly settle in, and each new Pirates of the Caribbean blockbuster has fared noticeably worse than its immediate predecessor on both Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic. Now, the series faces the incredibly difficult challenge of moving forward without its biggest draw and selling point, with a sixth entry in the main saga and female-driven spinoff both in the works with no sign of Johnny Depp being invited to return.
However, insider Daniel Richtman claims that Disney are still planning an entire Pirates of the Caribbean cinematic universe anyways, and they’re reportedly developing up to ten movies, spinoffs, and Disney Plus shows. What these other eight potential mystery projects are to have sprung up out of nowhere, the tipster doesn’t divulge, but based on the backlash that the studio has faced already from Depp’s supporters, they may as well just set fire to a big pile of money instead.
