We all knew that Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides was bad, but none of us imagined that the film’s lack of quality would delay the bankable Disney franchise this much – especially because On Stranger Tides grossed $1.04 billion, the second-highest for the series and the 13th highest-grossing of all time worldwide. To take its grosses another way though, On Stranger Tides was also the lowest-grossing domestically, so perhaps Disney’s alarm bells were somewhat warranted. Regardless, it’s been announced today that Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales will finally be hitting screens on July 7th, 2017, a whopping six years after the last installment.
Originally, the movie was set to arrive next summer, but it was delayed in order to work on the script. Kon-Tiki breakouts Joachim Ronning and Espen Sandberg are still set to direct the tentpole, giving us at least one reason to be excited for the fivequel. Johnny Depp will be returning to star as the hard-drinking, adventure-seeking Captain Jack Sparrow. Other rumored cast members include Christoph Waltz as Captain Brand and Geoffrey Rush as Captain Barbossa.
Recently, producer Jerry Bruckheimer spoke about toning down the franchise’s fantasy elements for Dead Men Tell No Tales in a conversation with Collider:
COLLIDER: Will there be any demonic monsters in Pirates 5?
BRUCKHEIMER: No, no. I think we’re back to more of a straight pirates movie this time.
COLLIDER: So, you won’t have big Kraken creatures anymore?
BRUCKHEIMER: Not in the script I read recently.
While I won’t say that the absence of the Kraken is a reason to look forward to Dead Men Tell No Tales necessarily, at least it’s good to see that Bruckheimer and others at Disney have taken criticism of the last few films to heart.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales arrives July 7th, 2017.