Pirates of the Caribbean Is Getting a Reboot (Yes, Reboot) from the Deadpool Writers
Pirates of the Caribbean might be getting a reboot. Yes, you read that right—a reboot. For a series ..
Pirates of the Caribbean might be getting a reboot. Yes, you read that right—a reboot. For a series that saw its last installment hit theaters in 2017! Extraordinary. Per Deadline, Disney is reportedly dreaming up a way to rejigger the billion-dollar swashbuckling franchise, and is in talks with writing duo Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick (the team behind Deadpool and Zombieland) to pen a new script. Pirates lord Jerry Bruckheimer will remain as producer on the project. Representatives for Disney have not yet responded to Vanity Fairs request for comment.
The series has been fairly resilient, a blockbuster juggernaut since the original launched in 2003. Though it earned terrible reviews from critics, the most recent Pirates film made $794 million at the worldwide box office—and Disneys not going to let go of a solid thing like that, even if Pirates fatigue set in long ago. Evidently, the studio plans to try something new in order to draw back fans who ditched the franchise two or three films ago. Punchy dialogue from the blockbuster Deadpool team might be just the thing—as long as audiences have not tired of that, too.
According to Deadline, its not yet clear which old Pirates stalwarts could stay on for the reboot. The last installment, Dead Men Tell No Tales, saw original stars Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley return to the fold—and, as always, the film was headed up by Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow, the booze-loving pirate at the heart of the series.
Would a reboot mean saying goodbye to Sparrow? Though Depp has long been the franchises marquee star, the actor has seen his reputation take a hit in the last few years. Hes been accused of domestic abuse by actress Amber Heard, his ex-wife. (He denied the allegations, and she dropped the claims after their divorce was settled.) There were also reports about Depps allegedly troubling behavior on the last Pirates film, including heavy drinking and constant lateness to its Australia set, which reportedly pushed the production team to assign a staffer to constantly track the actors whereabouts. In a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, Bruckheimer explained Depps tardiness by saying the actor was under tremendous pressure. “At times helicopters would follow him home. There would be so many media outside his gates that trucks were feeding them. There was so much stuff made up about him: that Johnny had a fight on set and had gone back to the States, which we both read about while we were in his trailer.”
Depps on-screen career, meanwhile, has mostly carried on as usual. Hes set to star in the upcoming drama Waiting for the Barbarians, which will co-star Robert Pattinson and Mark Rylance, and will next be seen in the upcoming Fantastic Beasts sequel. He recently responded to the backlash surrounding his casting as the dark wizard Grindelwald, calling Heards domestic-abuse claims false accusations. He also claimed to have evidence that he had been falsely accused of abuse, which will be presented in court next month during the proceeding for his lawsuit against U.K. tabloid The Sun. Heards team has fought back against Depps post-divorce claims, saying he is “shamefully continuing his psychological abuse of Ms. Heard, who has attempted to put a very painful part of her life firmly in her past.”
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