Image Credit: Andrew EcclesPirates of the Caribbean: No Orlandos Allowed On Stranger Tides is still four months away from theaters, but Disney is already preparing another Pirates movie. According to Deadline, the studio has hired screenwriter Terry Rossio (who co-wrote the first four Pirates films with Ted Elliott) to draft a new screenplay, and is also trying to lock in Tides director Rob Marshall for another go-round. They’ll likely not have to worry about the franchise star; Johnny Depp told EW that he would “most definitely consider” a fifth film. Maybe Pirates 4 will be a box office bust, but that’s unlikely. It’s opening unopposed on May 20th, a busy get-out-of-school weekend. Which means, my friends, that the Pirates series will almost certainly be embarking on the most terrifying adventure for any film franchise: The Fivequel.
There aren’t that many Number 5′s in film history. This is for good reason. Sequels are generally bad (see the Sequel Map). Threequels are usually worse. A franchise that reaches Number 4 has usually devolved into self-parody (see Indiana Jones and the Nuked Refrigerator) or has moved so far beyond the franchise’s original inspiration that it’s become unrecognizable (see Terminator: Salvation, which looked much more like The Road Warrior than the original Terminator.)
So a fourth sequel often smacks of desperation, if not outright money-grubbing. Even the most stalwart Rocky fan can’t abide Rocky V. Even the most die-hard Star Trek fan knows Star Trek V: The Final Frontier is so bad, it makes Star Trek III: The Search for Spock look like Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Really, the only two fivequels of real note are You Only Live Twice (the fifth James Bond movie) and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
So I guess the question is: Do you think the Pirates franchise is a new James Bond series? Can you visualize Jack Sparrow in an infinite number of variations? (Captain Jack goes to the North Pole! Captain Jack vs. the Ottomans!) Or conversely, do you think the Pirates franchise has the narrative heft of the Harry Potters? (Since Pirates 4 appears to sweep the deck clean of half the main characters from At World’s End, that seems unlikely.)
Above all, PopWatchers, would you want to see Pirates of the Caribbean 5?
I do love the Cpt Jack Sparrow character … but I think they’d be pushing their luck on that one.
Really, all Pirates sequels have been bad ideas…
You are wrong. Walk the plank.
I love you.
ABSOLUTELY, love JOHNNY DEPP< any movie hes in is at least watchable 5 times!!!!
I totally agree! I have ALL his dvd’s. He’s one of the Best.
If it’s “No Orlandos”, why can’t they still have just the one?!
Unless they bring back Orlando for the next one I’m not interested. One non-Orlando sequel is okay, but more than that and you’re pushing it. He & Johnny have great buddy chemistry & I don’t see anything in the OST trailer to match it.
If by “buddy chemistry” you mean “Bloom stands there looking bland while Depp does all the entertaining,” then I agree.
I agree as well
It’s your standard comedy duo- Johnny’s the crazy one and Orlando’s the straight man. Who’s going to be Johnny’s foil now?
Jeni- Johnny doesn’t need a foil. Anyway, Orlando Bloom’s character can only come on land once every ten years… his story is finished, there’d be no point to bringing him back again. From the beginning, the Pirates movies have been about Jack Sparrow’s quest for immortality, but that got squashed by the whole Elizabeth/Will dynamic. Now that that’s out of the way, we can get back to the real story.
what did phil say on MODERN FAMILY the other night? by the 5th one they get a whole new cast and that where it gets craaazy!!
It is not so much as it being a sequel as it is another pirate adventure with the evermore famous Captain Jack Sparrow
Bring it on. I love these movies….I love Captain Jack Sparrow….
Who doesn’t? Captain Jack is the only reason why I watch these movies. That, and because it takes place in the rocoo era.
these sequals are just awful.
“The fifth movie is usually when you get an entirely new cast. That’s when the magic happens.” – Phil Dunphy (Ty Burrell)
LOL!!! Phil & Claire will definately be lining up for Pirates 5. Or maybe they will sneak in after “Croctopus” is over
Best Comment EVER!!!
Absolutely!!!
I liked the first film, the second was eh, third was bad. And the trailer for the next one didn’t exactly persuade me that I need to go see it. So, in other words, I think this series needs to end. I’m sure some of you disagree, but that’s alright. Just stating my opinion.
Completely agree on the trajectory.
The sequel map itself is a bad idea. They have The Godfather part 2 listed as being worse than the original. As well as they have Lethal Weapon 2 as being a bad sequel. Not to mention they list other movies that weren’t necessarily worse than their predecessors, but were just different like Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, An American Tail: Fivil Goes West, Jurassic Park: The Lost World, Superman II, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, The Matrix Reloaded, and Before Sunset. Generally speaking sequels are not as good as the original, but they aren’t necessarily that terrible for the fans of the first movie.
interesting…..while i have no doubt johnny depp can carry a 5th, what could they possible write about?? i guess i don’t my pirate-lore enough.
I’d love a fifth movie as long as it’s good. I just want Barbosa to look like his old Pirate self in next movie. I’m not too into his legit look. And as far as I’m concerned Jack Sparrow and Barbosa are the real stars of the franchise!
I agree! Barbossa is equally important as Jack is to the franchise, though when it comes to popularity it’s no contest. The first three movies are excellent because they capture the events in Jack and Barbossa’s lives in which Will and Elizabeth play part and that’s great. But at the end of the day, if you return to simple adventures like the 4th movie was, then you wanna see pirates (real pirates…) and that’s exactly what Jack and Barbossa are! They better bring Barbossa back in the 5th one!
I definitely agree!!!
Well considering there are 10 years between the end of Pirates 3 and the REAL end of Pirates 3 (where Will is allowed back on land) there’s a readymade “9 years later” kind of thing for a fifth or even 6th movie.
Also taken as one big movie 2 & 3 aren’t that bad.
As with anything if it’s well written and well made it doesn’t matter at all.
Oh and the sequel map is rubbish. Sequels are often very good; just because the sequel to a 9 out of 10 movie is only an 8 out of 10 movie, that doesn’t make it a bad film, does it?
I couldn’t even get thru the third one on TV.
Thats cuz the 3rd one is so long, add commercials to that and even the best movie would be hard 2 sit through, not that the pirates movies are not great because they are, as long as johnny depp is capt. jack then these movies will always have a future.