To think that a $4.5 billion franchise all started from a theme park ride at Disneyland, but that’s exactly how Pirates of the Caribbean came to be, as one of the last rides overseen by Walt Disney turned into a film franchise starring Johnny Depp that currently includes five feature films.
The film series started back in 2003 with The Curse of the Black Pearl, and in 2006 and 2007, the first trilogy ended with Dead Man’s Chest and At World’s End. But after making billions in those movies, Disney wouldn’t just let the series go to sleep and came back with two more feature films featuring the lovable Jack Sparrow, played by Depp, with On Stranger Tides in 2011 and Dead Men Tell No Tales in 2017.
And while there is still a sixth film in consideration, as well as a spin-off film, Pirates of the Caribbean has done wonders for Disney’s bottom line, and is currently the 14th highest-grossing film series of all time. How did it bring make $4.5 billion? Let’s look and see how this theme park ride became a blockbuster.
Humble Beginnings For Pirates
The Curse of the Black Pearl was the first film to start the trilogy and gave everyone the first glimpse of Jack Sparrow as he tried to get his ship back. The film had a budget of $140 million and would make $654 million in worldwide box office gross. The film would staple Depp as a Hollywood A-list actor, which was something he wasn’t ready for after the film came out, as Depp said in an interview he enjoyed creating the characters, but it caused issues.
“I was freaked out by it. I mean, at the beginning I genuinely didn't [care] about acting,” said Depp. “But I began to enjoy it. I enjoyed creating those characters up there, being in the trenches and sparring with collaborators, actors, directors... The trouble with working with these big studios is they can get uncomfortable about certain creative decisions you make. That happened with Pirates. My view is if the studio isn't worried then I'm not doing my job properly.”
Apparently they really enjoyed what Depp has done, as they would sign him on to do the next two films and Depp would become Jack Sparrow for nearly the rest of his career, even carrying around the costume with him at all times in case he had to even get into character for sick children.
The Follow Up And First Trilogy
After the first appearance of Jack Sparrow, fans couldn’t get enough and so when Dead Man’s Chest came out in 2006, it set the franchise record for worldwide ticket sales. To this day, Dead Man’s Chest is the highest-grossing Pirates of the Caribbean film, having made $1.066 billion at the box office. At World’s End, which would end the trilogy, brought in just shy of a billion, making $963 million in ticket sales.
The two films were shot back to back at a cost of $225 million and $300 million each. The rise in cost came from the fact that all the major stars, including Depp, Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightly, and it was difficult to get everyone in together with so many other directors wanting them, so producer Jerry Bruckheimer said, that’s one of the reasons they filmed back to back.
“It’s hard because everyone already has a superstar career,” Bruckheimer explained in the DVD bonus. “To bring them back for a continuation of these characters is expensive and a lot of other directors are chasing the same talent.”
More Pirate Stories To Tell
When the first trilogy ended, it was believed that could be the end for the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. But throw enough money and the actors will return. Depp was paid $55 million to come back as Captain Jack, and despite Bloom and Knightly exiting the franchise, fans were all too pleased to have another Jack Sparrow film, as they spent a whopping $1.045 billion at the box office, just shy of the mark set by Dead Man’s Chest.
While the film is considered the fourth-best of the series, with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 33%, it still helped add to that $4.5 billion franchise value that Disney is enjoying now.
Dead Men Tell No Tales followed in 2017 and made $794 million in sales, the second-lowest of all five movies in the franchise, beating out only The Curse of the Black Pearl. And it has a Rotten Tomatoes score of 30%. Unfortunately for Disney, the quality of the films has gone down, despite the franchise being a massive success for them.
“The movies have subsequently gotten bigger and bigger and very complicated and they were satisfying on so many levels obviously, but I want to kind of reboot the whole thing and bring it down to its core, its essence, just characters,” said Disney’s head of production Oren Aviv.
Now the future is in trouble, as Depp might not be returning to the series, and the series will be taken over by a female lead. Either way, Disney has to be happen making $4.5 billion of something that started as a ride in their theme park.
