The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise is being rebooted over at Disney and apparently, the plan is for it to kick off a new trilogy. But of course it is. Isn’t that the goal of every studio? Make as many sequels as possible?
According to our sources – the same ones who told us that National Treasure 3 was in development, and that the Mouse House was doing an Aladdin sequel well before it was officially announced – the new films will act as more of a soft reboot of the series and focus, at least in part, on Davy Jones. The studio wants to do more with the character, apparently, and they’re hoping to have Bill Nighy back in the role. Or at least, have him do the voice work, as most of the physical stuff would probably be done with a stand-in, given the actor’s age.
Of course, Pirates of the Caribbean has been a big money-making machine for the Mouse House. The original trilogy earned nearly $3 billion at the worldwide box office and the later two sequels were also huge hits. But the franchise is still on a downward trajectory. Domestically, at least, each entry since Dead Man’s Chest has earned less than the one before. And if it wasn’t for On Stranger Tides making more than $1 billion worldwide, the same trend would be true for international business as well.
Dead Men Tell No Tales, the last sequel, made less than any Pirates film since the first. But if earning nearly $800 million worldwide is considered a failure, you can be assured that Disney will milk this well-known IP for all it’s worth.
In any case, it’s certainly time for some new blood when it comes to Pirates of the Caribbean, and though we’ve heard that Depp’s Jack Sparrow might still return and now this news of Jones being involved as well makes it seem as if the next movie won’t be a total fresh start, we do know that the lead character will indeed be someone new, with rumors saying a female pirate is set to take the helm when the franchise resurfaces. So again, it’s going to be more of a soft reboot rather than something that will wipe the slate completely clean.
Tell us, though, do you want to see more from the series? Or do you think Disney should just leave it on the shelf? Have your say down below.
