‘Pirates of the Caribbean’: Two Films and a Disney Plus Show Reportedly in Development
One of the quieter big franchises in the past few years has been Pirates of the Caribbean. Despite having put out five box office hits, and ending the last one with a very in-your-face tease during the post-credits scene, Disney hasn’t clarified their plans for the future of the franchise since May 2017.
Since Dead Men Tell No Tales came out, a variety of projects have entered the development stage, though we still haven’t seen the fruits of that. In a recent interview with The Sunday Times, producer Jerry Bruckheimer has confirmed that they are working on two separate films, one of which would be led by Margot Robbie. In addition, a new rumor from The DisInsider reported that Disney Plus would be looking into expanding the franchise with a new series for the platform.
We’ve known about the Margot Robbie film for two years now. Back when the news came out, The Hollywood Reporter said that the actress would be teaming up with her Birds of Prey scribe Christina Hodson. It’s possible the project hasn’t really seen much development in the past two years since both the actress and the screenwriter have been rather busy. The report came out a couple of months after Robbie wrapped filming The Suicide Squad, and since then, the actress has filmed David O. Russell’s Amsterdam, Damien Chazelle’s Babylon, and late last summer, Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City. Not only that, but she’s also put together the new Barbie movie, a movie she executive produces and also plays the lead role in.
Meanwhile, Hodson has also been very busy on the franchise end of things, since she wrote the script for two high-profile DC projects — The Flash, directed by Andy Muschietti, and Batgirl, starring Leslie Grace and directed by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah (Ms. Marvel, Bad Boys For Life). With both movies now deep into post-production, her schedule is cleared up, and she should be free to start working on Pirates of the Caribbean. It should be mentioned, though, that Bruckheimer did not say her name, so we actually don’t know if she is still attached to the project.
The other movie Bruckheimer brought up is one we don’t know much about. Shortly before the Margot Robbie report, there was a rumor that had Karen Gillan as the lead of a new movie. We still don’t know if that had any ground at all, and if it did, if that project is still alive at Disney. Deadpool screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick had also been hired in 2018 to reboot the franchise, but they abandoned ship in early 2019.
Lastly, having a Disney Plus show makes perfect sense for a streaming service that is betting a lot on its IP. Many Disney Animation projects have received an extension on Disney Plus, and it’s only a matter of time before all Disney-owned franchises have their own streaming spin-offs. It’s very possible we will get an update on the Pirates franchise this September, during D23.
The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise has grossed $4.5 billion worldwide on five films. After the Johnny Depp scandal hit, Disney decided to move away from Jack Sparrow and set a new course for the franchise, though it’s been a rough ride.
Miguel Fernández is a Spanish student that has movies as his second passion in life. His favorite movie of all time is The Lord of the Rings, but he is also a huge Star Wars fan. However, fantasy movies are not his only cup of tea, as authors like Scorsese, Fincher, Kubrick or Hitchcock have been an obsession for him since he started to understand the language of filmmaking. He is that guy who will watch a black and white movie, just because it is in black and white.
