No matter how much Johnny Depp and Jerry Bruckheimer want to blame the failure of this summer’s The Lone Ranger on critics, it was an awful movie (check out my lengthy review here!) Disney obviously felt indebted to Depp, Bruckheimer, director Gore Verbinski, and screenwriters Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio for all their success in with the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise and let them indulge in Depp’s long-professed desire to star as Tonto in a Lone Ranger movie despite an escalating budget. Needless to say, it resulted in a terrible movie and a huge financial hit for Disney (reportedly $190 million!). It also proved that Hollywood doesn’t understand that Westerns aren’t action blockbusters.
So while Disney has already announced that the fifth Pirates movie, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, was set for a summer 2015 release, The Hollywood Reporter reveals that Disney is delaying the project on hold for release in summer 2016. Not surprisingly, the main culprit is suspected to be the budget even though Bruckheimer is claiming it’s “script issues.”
Of course, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales mixes up the players a bit. While Bruckheimer is still producing and Depp is returning as Captain Jack Sparrow, the film will be directed by Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg, who directed the critical hit Kon-Tiki, and Jeff Nathanson (Tower Heist, Rush Hour 2 & 3) wrote the screenplay. But a source tells The Hollywood Reporter that Nathanson’s script “was too expensive but it was also really complicated and hard to follow.” So yeah, budget, especially since the same article says that Disney wants the film to cost under $200 million.
By comparison, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl cost $140 million, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest cost $225 million, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End cost $300 million (the most expensive film of all time if you don’t adjust for inflation), Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides cost $250 million, and The Lone Ranger cost $250 million. So yes, Disney is looking for more bang for less bucks.
Another possible reason for the delay? The summer of 2015 is currently expected to be the most blockbuster-crowded movie summer ever. Disney alone has Star Wars: Episode VII, The Avengers 2, and the Pixar movie Inside Out coming out that summer, and right now Disney only had an untitled Marvel film and an untitled Pixar film scheduled for summer 2016. Plus, that’s a whole extra year for people to forget about The Lone Ranger!
Are you even interested in a Pirates 5? Tell us what you think in the comments below!
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