It may have earned Disney over $4.5 billion at the box office, but there’s no denying that the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise’s glory days are long gone. The swashbuckling series peaked creatively with the first installment, with reviews getting progressively worse for each subsequent sequel, while fifth entry Dead Men Tell No Tales turned out as a minor commercial disappointment after becoming the lowest-grossing outing since Curse of the Black Pearl. Although, a $795 million global take is hardly a disaster.
Of course, the all-conquering pop culture behemoth that is Disney are reluctant to let such a lucrative brand go to waste, with a sixth Pirates adventure inevitably announced in 2018, with the intention of rebooting the franchise without Johnny Depp’s iconic Captain Jack Sparrow. However, after Deadpool and Zombieland writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick quit the project and were replaced by Chernobyl creator Craig Mazin and longtime series writer Terry Rossio, there’s been virtually nothing heard since.
That could indicate a change in plans, especially if what we’ve been told turns out to be true. Sources close to We Got This Covered – the same ones who informed us that an Aladdin sequel was in development long before it was confirmed by producer Dan Lin, and who told us that National Treasure 3 was in the works last year, before THR confirmed it the other day – say that the Mouse House are looking to make a Pirates of the Caribbean prequel show for Disney Plus and are reportedly eying Zac Efron (among others) to play a young Jack Sparrow. From what we understand, the series would follow him on various adventures as he hunts for treasure around the world.
While none of this has been officially confirmed by the studio just yet, you can certainly understand why Disney are keen to keep one of their most popular franchises in the public eye, especially having recently launched their own streaming platform. A prequel or spinoff show is a great way to freshen up the tired brand, too, but having anybody other than Johnny Depp playing Jack Sparrow could turn out to be a huge mistake.
The initial decision to move forward on a sixth movie without Depp generated huge backlash from the fans, and the 56 year-old is so closely linked to the character that anybody stepping into his shoes would come under incredible scrutiny, and given how unique the actor’s performance is, there’s every chance that a potential replacement could easily fall into parody or caricature. In any case, a Pirates of the Caribbean show on Disney Plus that follows a new cast of characters going on adventures and searching for treasures would work if handled correctly, but it would need to differentiate itself enough from the movies instead of simply relying on the things that have worked before.
Either way, it certainly sounds like it has potential and given that this intel comes to us from the same sources who also told us Ms. Marvel and She-Hulk TV shows were heading to Disney Plus well before they were officially announced, we have no reason to doubt it.
from We Got This Covered https://ift.tt/2NUCLHz
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