A new Pirates of the Caribbean featurette examines the movie’s journey from its humble beginnings as a Disneyland ride. The release of the fifth Pirates of the Caribbean movie, Dead Men Tell No Tales, is right around the corner. Once again, Johnny Depp returns as Captain Jack Sparrow, opposite Geoffrey Rush as Captain Barbossa. Orlando Bloom also returns to the franchise, as Will Turner, while new cast members include Brenton Thwaites as Henry Turner, Kaya Scodelario as Carina Smyth, and Javier Bardem as the ghostly Salazar.

When the Pirates of the Caribbean ride first made its debut at Disneyland in 1957, few could ever have conceived the thought that it could one day become a huge hit movie, let alone spawn a multi billion dollar movie franchise. A new featurette, via EW, sees Executive Producer Jerry Bruckheimer, along with Rush and Thwaites, talking about the impact Pirates has had. There’s also some pretty cool footage, charting the rise of Pirates of the Caribbean over the years.

For fans of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, the first Pirates movie, The Curse of the Black Pearl, was not only enjoyable because of its plot and characters, but also because of the nods to the ride dotted throughout. Certain scenes were recreated almost exactly as the rider views them, and it all added to the ghost story/ pirate crossover that ended up working so well.

While some of the subsequent movies were weaker than the first, there’s no denying that Disney created an iconic character in the form of Jack Sparrow. This time, the Pirates franchise will return to its ghostly roots, when Sparrow comes up against the undead Salazar, who is determined to wipe out all pirates after Jack Sparrow had him turned from a Spanish Admiral into his current zombie state.

Directors Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg are aiming to give a soft reboot to the franchise, and interestingly, Rønning, who says the first Pirates movie is his favorite, also says that it’s important audiences have characters to invest in, since Sparrow, as great as he is, doesn’t have a character arc to speak of:

Rønning also praised Depp’s work with the character, though, rightly pointing out that he knows Jack Sparrow inside out:

“It’s scary, it’s funny, and most of all it’s a comedy, but with great heart, and that structure and the dynamics between the characters was something I really wanted to try and reinvent. It’s basically a love story. It’s a period piece, yes, but about real people falling in love, with Jack Sparrow coming in every now and then crashing the party. But it’s important that, since Jack doesn’t really have a character arc, you as an audience have to really invest in the other characters.”

The characters falling in love would be Henry and Carina, reminiscent of the Elizabeth/ Will pairing the franchise first started with. In a previously released international trailer, it was also revealed that Keira Knightley will return to the franchise as well. If this is the end of the Pirates franchise as we know it (and nothing is confirmed either way), it seems as though things have now come full circle.

“He has a comedic timing that I’ve never seen in anyone. He comes on set, it’s one or two takes, and I can move on. He knows this character inside and out, and that’s such a luxury, as a director, to work with someone like that."

Source: EW

  • Pirates of the Caribbean 5 Release Date: 2017-05-26