5 Pirate Anniversaries, ahoy! Yo ho!
When we were at Disneyland a few weeks ago I was devastated that my #1 favorite ride—Pirates of the Caribbean—was closed for refurbishment. Thankfully, I’m going back this fall and will ride it several times to make up for missing it recently.
It’s amazing to me what a huge franchise grew from the whisps of that simple boat-ride’s storyline. And when I say huge, I mean that PoTC is the first movie franchise to have two of its chapters make more than $1 billion. Shiver me timbers!
I shouldn’t have been surprised by how Disney Imagineers creatively inserted an animatronic Jack Sparrow into several scenes of the ride after the films became popular. (Yet somehow it still worked.)
As it turns out, though the first two movies (The Curse of the Black Pearl and Dead Man’s Chest) had their premieres on July 9, 2003, and July 7, 2006, respectively, the next three installments all came out in late May…
…Which makes this an anniversary week! At World’s End hit theaters on May 25, 2007, followed by On Stranger Tides on May 20, 2011 and finally Dead Men Tell No Tales on May 27, 2017.
Now look, the Davy Jones in the room is that the star of the POTC franchise—Johnny Depp—is currently embroiled in a high-profile legal battle with his ex-wife, Amber Heard. And there is zero way I’m going to comment on that. But during the trial Depp did state that he would no longer be working with Disney, so we know we’re not going to see any more of his Jack Sparrow adventures.
However, the franchise will live on. In fact, there are apparently two movies in the works. The first is the sixth installment of the original storyline. Dead Men Tell No Tales’ Joachim Rønning will once again direct, and Kaya Scodelario is contracted to reprise her role as Carina Smyth Barbossa, but that’s all we know.
The second is a spin-off that will be written by Christina Hodson (Birds of Prey), will star Margot Robbie and will be produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, who’s produced the entire franchise to date. Color me intrigued!
Until there’s any more Pirates news, I’ve got an idea for any other fans out there: Grab some rum and celebrate these arrrrrrniversaries with a marathon of all 5 Pirates of the Caribbean movies!