Dead Men Tell No Tales earned almost $800 million and was considered a serious under-performer, to contextualize the sheer size of the series.
Although Disney seemingly attempted to replace Pirates of the Caribbean with Jungle Cruise, the franchise’s massive fandom does not seem to be flocking to this new action-adventure-comedy at the same rate as the earlier series. This may mean the studio will now need to rely on their proposed Margot Robbie-starring Pirates of the Caribbean reboot to salvage the franchise. However, now the underperformance of Robbie’s own outing The Suicide Squad could call this plan into question, too.
After the relative underperformance of 2020’s Margot Robbie’s Pirates of the Caribbean reboot had, until recently, been mooted as the project that would allow the series to move on from former star Johnny Depp, but this is looking increasingly unlikely thanks to The Suicide Squad’s underperformance.
However, The Suicide Squad and Birds of Prey both boasted R-ratings where the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise is more family-friendly. This means the comparison of their performances may be unfair on Robbie’s box office potential. That said, 2016’s The Legend of Tarzan—another live-action Disney blockbuster starring Robbie—could be a relevant comparison, and that reboot also underperformed at the box office, either not quite or just about breaking even (depending on the report).
The effect of COVID-19 is also a relevant factor, and (with any luck) will not be an issue by the release of Robbie’s Pirates of the Caribbean spinoff. However, this does not for unexpected recent box office hits like The Green Knight, which earned $7 million in its opening weekend despite being released amid the pandemic. Ultimately, only time will tell whether The Suicide Squad’s continuing performance can reinstate faith in Robbie’s box office potential, or whether Disney will need to reconsider their plan to pin the future of one of their most lucrative franchises on a reboot. The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise seems unlikely to rehire former star Johnny Depp, but the underperformance of its reboot star Margot Robbie’s The Suicide Squad could galvanize the studio to reconsider their options.
