There were reports saying that “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales,” the fifth installment of the very successful pirate movie franchise, will be the concluding entry to the series.
Those speculations were actually based on a recent interview with actress Kaya Scodelario, who will play Carina Smyth in the movie, when she was quoted as saying that the fifth film will tie all loose ends of the series.
But the decision whether to end the series or not obviously belongs to Disney, which would most likely come up with one depending on the box office result of “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.”
The fourth movie of the franchise, “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” was the lowest-grossing film in the series in North America, raking in a total of $241 million. Disney would sure like to find out if “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales” can redeem the franchise.
But it seems that Disney would not just settle for the fifth “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie to merely surpass the box office haul of the fourth film, it is looking to make it at par or even better with the highest-grossing film of the franchise. That reputation belongs to the second movie of the series, “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” which is the highest-grossing film in the franchise in North America, grossing $423 million.
Quitting while ahead
Or it is also possible that Disney may decide to wrap everything up, which is the reason why “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales” is tying all loose ends.
Disney has been known to quit while it’s ahead and not wait to find out whether fans have grown tired of a particular franchise. Instead of milking a series until its very last drop, Disney would rather come up with a new one to start because new is always better than the old in a lot of ways.
Moviepilot opined that by taking the fifth film to the franchise’s roots, Disney is apparently looking to wrap up the main plotline and perhaps start another.
Orlando Bloom, who is returning to the fifth film to reprise his Will Turner role, actually gave a hint about the direction of the franchise in an interview months ago, which was just confirmed by Kaya Scodelario in her recent interview.
They both pointed out that the producers want to take the film back to the beginning again because they wanted to have an epic journey that would all make sense as it shall tie things up and possibly lead to new storylines.
Changing of the guards
Although Disney has yet to make any statement to either confirm or deny the speculations on whether “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales” is to be the last movie for the franchise or not, what is imminent at this point is that there seems to be some kind of changing of the guards in the movie.
Gone are the love team of Elizabeth Swann, previously played by Keira Knightley, and Orlando Bloom’s Will Turner. Instead, Carina and Brenton Thwaites’ Henry character will be taking center stage beginning in the fifth film.
Now, it is possible that the franchise will shift its focus on the seafaring adventures of Carina and Henry and that Captain Jack Sparrow, played by Johnny Depp, will have to take a bow in the fifth film for good. So it is possible that “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales” is going to be Captain Jack’s swan song.
But then, Disney might have second thoughts about it eventually depending on how fans would react to it. After all, Captain Jack is the most distinctive character of the franchise and that he has also spawned plenty of merchandising opportunities for Disney both in the past and possibly in the near future.
From a business and commercial standpoint, everything boils down to the box office result of “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.” Disney would likely decide from there to either end the franchise for good and start another one or continue it further but with an altogether different set of protagonists.