Disney is considering roping in Deadpool writing duo, Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, to write the sixth installment of Pirates of the Caribbean.
Some things never die goes the old adage. But in Hollywood, it means some films followed by multiple sequels never die. One case in point is the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.
After five Pirates films, Disney is currently exploring a potential reboot of the blockbuster. For the sixth installment of Pirates of the Caribbean, Disney has already met with the sought-after writing duo - Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick - and they are in early talks to write the script.
Reese and Wernick are the writers behind the first two Deadpool blockbusters, and before that wrote Zombieland and its sequel and 6 Underground.
“Disney has no comment and no deal is in place yet. However, all five films have grossed more than $650 million worldwide, with Dead Man’s Chest (2006) and On Stranger Tides (2011) both topping the $1 billion mark,” reported Variety.
As for the cast and crew, Jerry Bruckheimer will continue to captain the ship as producer on Pirates of the Caribbean. “At this point it is too early to say who else might be back and that includes Johnny Depp, who has channeled music group Rolling Stones’ rogue Keith Richard in playing Jack Sparrow through the first five films. It is not surprising the studio will try to breathe new pirate life into the franchise, as the first five films grossed north of $4.5 billion over 14 years,” noted Deadline.Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017) centered on Johnny Depp’s swaggering Jack Sparrow battling deadly ghost sailors, led by the Javier Bardem’s Captain Salazar. Kaya Scodelario and Brenton Thwaites joined the cast, with Orlando Bloom returning as Will Turner and Geoffrey Rush as Captain Hector Barbossa. Joachim Ronning and Espen Sandberg, who teamed on Kon-Tiki, directed the movie.
The negotiations with the writer duo are currently in initial stages and it may be a while before the deal is closed and we learn whether Johnny Depp will reprise his Academy Award-nominated role as Captain Jack Sparrow.
However, considering the general nature of a reboot and rumours of possible performance issues during the production of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales last year and his public struggles, it seems like Disney might not cast the actor.
It is also curious to note that audience interest in the film is waning as Pirates of the Caribbean’s last instalment, Dead Men Tell No Tales, significantly underperformed at the global box office where it collected just $795 million, compared to its predecessors.
With no Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow, is there even a point to this reboot, remains the larger question.
–With information from Variety and Deadline
