Last Octoberwe reportedthat Disney was courtingDeadpoolwritersRhett ReeseandPaul Wernickto rebootPirates of the Caribbean. The series was waning and even thoughOn Stranger Tidesmade over a billion worldwide andDead Men Tell No Talesmanaged a respectable $794 million worldwide, there was still the matter ofJohnny Depp’s fading star power and costly price tag. A reboot or semi-reboot would give the property new life and allow it to move on from Depp even if his Captain Jack Sparrow had been the face of thePiratesfranchise.
But now it looks like the reboot is rudderless as Deadline reports that Reese and Wernick have left the project. Disney’s film production chiefSean Baileywas high on theZombielandscreenwriters bringing their edge to the franchise, saying [per Deadline], “the scribes were going to ‘make Pirates punk rock again’ and give the franchise a much-needed ‘kick in the pants’ that would revive the off-kilter charisma the brand exuded in its early days.” That was a noble ambition, and I applaud Bailey for angling to makePiratesweird again, but it looks like it’s not to be.
Now the question becomes whether or not they find new writers to reboot the series or just shelvePiratesfor the indefinite future. Although there’s been some talk about possibly takingPirates of the Caribbeanto TV, the production costs are prohibitive for such an endeavor, not just when it comes to shooting on water, but also probably for the VFX budget this series demands. It would also be somewhat risky since interest inPiratesseems to be fading overall, and dumping money into a TV show doesn’t seem to be a solution to that problem.
Personally, I think it’s time to letPirateslay low for a while. We don’t need any more of these movies, and we certainly don’t need them with Johnny Depp in the lead. While Disney’s in-house studio needs its own lineup of hits (even though they’ve got a long line of live-action adaptations of animated moves ahead), thePiratesbrand is exhausted. Let it sit on the shelf for ten years and then bring it back with a new cast, new ideas, and a new audience ready to go back on the high seas.
