Though I have never really understood it...the world loves Captain Jack Sparrow. In all honesty, there is very little not to love about Johnny Depp putting on a wig, a bunch of makeup, and dancing around as a crazy/brilliant/legendary pirate. However, the question quickly becomes, how long can Hollywood keep this gag going? The first Pirates movie opened up way back in the summer of 2003 to $46 million. Given that it was a movie property based on a theme park ride, many people were extremely surprised with the outcome of the picture. In the coming weeks it proved it wasn't just a one hit wonder as the film held on to its audience throughout the summer to gross a staggering $305 million - making it the years third highest domestic earner behind Nemo and Return of the King. American audiences were hooked on Pirates, and House of Mouse was quick to announce two more films.
Three years later, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest became the single highest grossing film in a single day at the time. ($55 million on its opening day. Beating out the original Spider-Man. $135 million for the opening weekend. Fun fact: Spider-Man 3 took that title back for a short time the very next year before having it taken away by The Dark Knight. Twilight: New Moon holds the torch now with $72 million.) The sequel went on to out gross the original by a considerable margin with $423 million domestically. ($1.06 billion worldwide.) Though the sequel was not critic friendly - it appeared that the world was still in love with pirates. The seas looked clear for the third film to break more records.
In 2007, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End launched its opening weekend with $114 million. The film ended its run with $309 million domestically and $936 million worldwide. Though it was still an extremely successful film, the execution of the third adventure left a lot of fans tired of the same old jokes and set pieces. With the ending promising a swift return to basics... many fans decided they had already had their fill of pirate nostalgia at the multiplex.
Fast forward four more years, and we have yet another Pirates in the wake of box office glory. Nevertheless, the question this time isn't "when am I going to see it? It is "do I think I'll give it a chance?" There is no doubt that the last few films have had an effect on the audience's enthusiasm for the new film. In fact, the concept is based around a side character from the original trilogy. (Seriously...Jack Sparrow was never the main character of the original films. The whole popularity of the franchise has been based on the idea of the side character.)
However, with nearly everyone gone from the original films, this film feels like that long awaited back to basics approach of the original film. Plus with the added bonus of 3D and the widest IMAX release in history, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides should make a hell of a lot of money at the box office. Even if it under preforms stateside (which many think it will) there is little doubt this new film will be the top grosser of the franchise over seas. This will mean that Disney will shell out the $250 or so required to make a fifth movie. The only thing that really matter is when Johnny Depp feels like doing another one.
On a side note, I'm pretty sure that if this latest Pirates film can gross more than $100 million dollars in its opening weekend it will be the first film franchise in history to open three $100 million dollar weekend movies in a row. I would watch out for that one!
If you follow the box office like I do, it has been hard to ignore how terrible the year overall preform ace has been so far. I'm crossing my fingers that Pirates can break the $100 million hurdle and get this year back on track. $103 million over the weekend is my estimate.
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