Pirates of the Caribbean: A Classic Franchise 15 Years in the Making

The first Pirates of the Caribbean movie The Curse of the Black Pearl directed by Gore Verbinski, was released worldwide on July 9^th, 2003 and jumped straight into the hearts of viewers with its intricate story and adorably eccentric characters. Five movies and fifteen years later, the franchise has pulled down almost $4.5 billion worldwide against a total budget of just under a billion and a half and has been nominated for eleven Oscars, two Golden Globes, thirteen MTV Movie Awards, five BAFTAs and an award from the prestigious Screen Actors’ Guild for Johnny Depp.

The franchise is based on a series of theme park attractions at various Disney resorts, the first of which was opened at Disneyland in Anaheim, California in 1967. The idea of making a movie based on the theme park ride was first spawned in the early 1990’s by Shrek screenwriters Terry Russio and Ted Elliot. Their idea was to put a supernatural edge on a story based around the Golden Age of Piracy, a genre that had somewhat fizzled out of the Hollywood trend. Disney grabbed the idea with both hands and drafted Jay Wolpert (The Count of Monte Cristo) to write the script for The Curse of the Black Pearl in 2001.

In 2002, the script was taken back to the drawing board and finally rewritten by rookie screenwriter Stuart Beattie who later went on to pen neo-noir crime thriller Collateral starring Tom Cruise, and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra in 2009. The script was fused in with Russio and Elliot’s ideas on a Supernatural theme which grabbed the attention of acclaimed producer Jerry Bruckheimer, a Hollywood figurehead who had previously rejected the script. The studio finally settled on the collaborative screenplay and on Johnny Depp to play Jack Sparrow despite previous interest in Matthew McConaughey, Christopher Walken, Cary Elwes, Michael Keaton and Jim Carrey for the lead. After signing Gore Verbinski to direct the movie in May of 2002, Disney were all set to begin filming.

As all fans will already know (although I’m going to explain it anyway because I personally love the movie), the plot of the first instalment follows Will Turner (Orlando Bloom), a blacksmith in the service of the British Navy at Port Royal who is hopelessly in love with Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley), daughter of the Governor (Jonathan Pryce). All hell breaks loose when notorious pirate Captain Jack Sparrow (Depp) infiltrates the fort to commandeer a ship of the fleet and is captured and imprisoned by newly appointed Commodore Norrington (Jack Davenport) The fort is later attacked by a crew of undead pirates aboard the legendary Black Pearl under the command of Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) who captures Miss Swann and sails away into the night. Turner and Sparrow team up to steal the fastest ship in the fleet and with a rag-tag band of pirates they hire on the Isle of Tortuga, they set out to break the curse and reclaim the Governor’s daughter.

The Curse of the Black Pearl has become one of the world’s favourite feel-good movies of the early noughties. It made only $46 million in its opening weekend against a budget of $140m and viewership slowed gradually, although by the time the movie left cinemas in January of 2004, it had grossed over $300m in domestic sales and an impressive $654m worldwide. The adventure of Jack Sparrow and his band of pirates was an instant hook amongst fans who cried out for a sequel.

The crew signed on for two more films that were to be shot back-to-back and a new serial story beginning with Dead Man’s Chest began development in June 2004. The sequels would follow some new characters in a totally new supernatural setting and introduce the legendary ghost ship The Flying Dutchman along with its captain Davy Jones. The movie and its sequel were released in 2006 and 2007 respectively. With a combined budget of $525 million, the two sequels made a combined total of just under $1.3bn worldwide.

Two years after the release of At World’s End (2007), Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer decided that although the trilogy was over, a new spin-off story introducing new characters could well work. Elliot and Russio began working on a script based on the novel On Stranger Tides by Tim Powers. Disney bought the rights to the book and the movie began to take shape. With a net budget of $378.5 million, the film holds the record for being the most expensive movie ever made and pulled down just over $1bn at the worldwide box office.

During this time, crew were made aware that Disney planned to release another two instalments back to back. This plan was scrapped late in 2011 and it transpired that only one more film was currently being considered. In July 2014, a new script by Rush Hour 2 & 3 writer Jeff Nathanson, featuring a fresh new villain and the return of Will Turner, was given the green light by Disney execs and production began. The film was released in July 2017 and attained just $172.5 million in domestic box office takings against a colossal budget of $230m.

The Pirates of the Caribbean series has certainly had its ups and downs but I think we can all agree that it’s an exemplary marathon-worthy franchise of easy feel-good films perfect for those moments we all have that require a return to a DVD we’ve already seen ten times before. We never tire of these movies. They’re fun, they’re dramatic, they’re complex and simple in equal measure. They’re easy to watch over and over again, reliving the exploits of lovable, endlessly entertaining characters. Fifteen years later, it’s still a big franchise favourite. Break out the boxset, crack open the family-sized bottle of coke and the giant bag of crisps, put your feet up and enjoy the adventure all over again!