Just an update on a production grid that was sent over to me last night. It reads, “UNTITLED POTC MOVIE,” and has a “late 2025” production being eyed. in St. Vincent. No word yet on the cast for the film, but I wouldn’t expect Johnny Depp to return as Captain Jack Sparrow.
Earlier in the year, ‘Pirates’ producer Jerry Bruckheimer confirmed that the franchise will have more than one reboot. Bruckheimer told EW: “It’s two different movies. We hope to get ’em both made, and I think Disney agrees they really want to make the Margot [Robbie] one, too.”
What’s being rumored is that one film is a reboot with an entirely new cast, and the other will be a female-centric film, with connections to the previous movies, and Margot Robbie starring in the lead role.
One of those two projects is most likely the one originally written by “The Last of Us” creator Craig Mazin and original ‘Pirates’ scribe Ted Elliot, and later rewritten by Jeff Nathanson (“The Young Woman and the Sea”). Here’s Bruckheimer confirming Nathanson’s involvement.
I think [Jeff Nathanson has] cracked it. He’s got an amazing third act. We just gotta clean up the first and second and then we’ll get there. But he wrote a great, great third act.
Did we need ‘Pirates’ reboots? of course not. Depp’s absence is only adding to the unnecessary nature of these upcoming films — Depp’s Jack Sparrow, was the best, and, at times, only, reason to watch the previous installments.
The ‘Pirates’ franchise has been dead to many fans, especially after the last release, 2017's "Dead Men Tell No Tales.” As far as I’m concerned, the only good one was the 2003 original. However, money talks, and reboots being greenlit occur on a near-weekly basis in Hollywood.
Paul Greengrass’ "The Uprising," starring Andrew Garfield, opened to $3.2M from 2,068 theaters this weekend. Yikes. The budget hasn’t been disclosed, but is said to be in the $20-$30M range.