The fifth The Ring director Gore Verbinski’s Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl arrived in cinemas in summer 2003, the movie seemed doomed to sink without a trace at the box office.
The 1995 mistakes in Pirates of the Caribbean sequels.
However, it was not until the third sequel, 2011’s On Stranger Tides, that the critical reception of the series became outright hostile, with reviewers calling the movie the worst Pirates of the Caribbean installment so far upon its release. The fortunes of the franchise waned further with 2017’s oft-delayed Dead Men Tell No Tales, which endured a lengthy and troubled production only to be released to even worse reviews than its predecessor and the lowest box office of the series so far. The series has since been put on hiatus, although Disney has announced plans for both a Margot Robbie-starring reboot and an unrelated sixth film in the original franchise. With massive fan demand for Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow to return in Pirates of the Caribbean 6, it is worth revisiting the long path that the fifth movie in the series took to the screen, and wonder whether the movie's original plan would have provided the franchise a much-needed hit four years ago.
The Return Of On Stranger Tides Director Rob Marshall
Although On Stranger Tides received significantly worse critical write-ups than its predecessors, the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean movie did earn an impressive haul at the box office, making more money than all of the franchise’s earlier movies. As a result of this, On Stranger Tides helmer Marshall was offered the chance to return to the director's chair for Dead Men Tell No Tales. He was not the creator’s first choice, with original Snow White and the Huntsman fame according to a Deadline shortlist from 2013.
However, Sanders in turn dropped out to instead direct Ghost in the Shell in what was likely not much of a loss for Dead Men Tell No Tales. Much like Marshall’s Into The Woods, Sanders’ adaptation of the popular manga would go on to receive mixed-to-negative reviews criticizing its muddled story and gloomy tone. While On Stranger Tides was disliked by critics, the fourth film did at least feature an appropriately funny, fast-paced tone, something Dead Men Tell No Tales directors Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg proved they could achieve with their 2006 action comedy Bandidas.
Dead Men Tell No Tales’ Missing Female Villain
Speaking of Bandidas, Pirates of the Caribbean's Calypso proved that the franchise could create memorably threatening and interesting female baddies, meaning Dead Men Tell No Tales could potentially have benefitted from this fresh approach.
Christoph Waltz’s Salazar
Captain Salazar, the main villain of Dead Men Tell No Tales, was a rotting pirate who some fans felt owed too much of a debt to both the zombie pirates of The Curse of the Black Pearl and the franchise's decaying seaman Davy Jones. However, the character could have been brought to life by a more diminutive, less stereotypically scary figure than imposing Anton Chigurgh actor Javier Bardem. Spectre's Blofeld, Waltz gave a less over-the-top Bond villain performance than Bardem and perhaps could have made the Pirates of the Caribbean character less zany and quietly threatening too.
Taron Egerton’s Missing Pirates of the Caribbean Character
The series has struggled to find a replacement for the Margot Robbie Pirates of the Caribbean spin-off movie will reboot the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise to give the movies a new start, rather than continuing the diminishing returns of the existing series.
