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Jerry Bruckheimer confirms the next Pirates of the Caribbean movie is a reboot

Jerry Bruckheimer has finally given an update for a sixth Pirates of the Caribbean movie, hinting it'll be a reboot of the series!

By Michael Weyer

PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: THE CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL - For the 12th consecutive year, ABC Family scares up 13 NIGHTS OF HALLOWEEN with programming filled with ghosts, ghouls and a few laughs, too! On night four - Friday, October 22, catch the ABC Family premiere of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (8:00 - 11:00 PM ET/PT) where Capt. Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) hunts down his ship and the cursed crew that mans it. (Disney/Elliott Marks) ORLANDO BLOOM, KEIRA KNIGHTLEY
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: THE CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL - For the 12th consecutive year, ABC Family scares up 13 NIGHTS OF HALLOWEEN with programming filled with ghosts, ghouls and a few laughs, too! On night four - Friday, October 22, catch the ABC Family premiere of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (8:00 - 11:00 PM ET/PT) where Capt. Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) hunts down his ship and the cursed crew that mans it. (Disney/Elliott Marks) ORLANDO BLOOM, KEIRA KNIGHTLEY /
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Pirates of the Caribbean might finally be setting sail again but it sounds like it will be a reboot. Here's what Jerry Bruckheimer has to say about the new installment!

It's forgotten today that over twenty years ago, most in Hollywood expected Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl to be an epic bomb. Pirate movies hadn't been successful in years and that was without being based on a theme park ride, coming in the middle of a busy summer movie season. This should never have worked.

But it did, becoming the biggest live-action box office hit of 2003. It was aided by good reviews, word of mouth, a fun story and, of course, Johnny Depp's incredible Oscar-nominated performance as Jack Sparrow. Disney pushed fast for back-to-back sequels in 2006 and '07, with further installments in 2011 and 2017. 

That's been the last of the saga, with the disappointing box office for Dead Men Tell No Tales and Depp's personal and legal issues forestalling work on a sixth movie. There was talk of Margot Robbie leading a female-centered spinoff, but nothing has come of it. 

Rumors have abounded of Disney wanting to bring back Depp for a sixth movie to try and restore some of their flagging box office. Yet now, Jerry Bruckheimer has hinted that this may end up being a full-fledged reboot.

What could a Pirates reboot be like?

Talking to ComicBook.com, Bruckheimer discussed reboot and sequel plans for Top Gun and Pirates and shared the early plans for the latter. 

""It's hard to tell. You don't know, you really don't know. You don't know how they come together. You just don't know. Because with Top Gun you have an actor who is iconic and brilliant. And how many movies he does before he does Top Gun, I can't tell you. But we're gonna reboot Pirates, so that is easier to put together because you don't have to wait for certain actors.""

Now, a reboot doesn't mean Depp will be completely absent, as it's possible Sparrow pops in for a supporting role but a focus on some newer characters. The fact is that Depp is getting older, and it is hard to see how he could make Sparrow fresh after five installments. Using him to introduce some new characters and other parts of this unique supernatural adventure universe would be a better choice. 

Note that "reboot" is not the same as "remake," as it's almost impossible to imagine anyone else playing Sparrow. This wouldn't be unlike the various "legacy sequels" happening around Hollywood, like Jurassic World or Ghostbusters: Afterlife. It could even be Disney still wants to make the female-centered version with Robbie's star boosted by Barbie or have Depp pass the torch to a new leading character.

The Last of Us creator Craig Mazin worked on a story for the new Pirates alongside original screenwriter Ted Elliot. It was paused due to the 2023 Hollywood strikes, with Mazin telling the L.A. Times that Disney seemed to like their "weird" script. 

"We pitched it and thought there's no way they're buying it, it's too weird. And they did! And then we wrote a fantastic script and the strike happened and everyone's waiting around. "

"Weird" would fit the world of Pirates which mixes ghosts, inhuman creatures and more amid the crazy action. The post-credits scene for the last film hinted at the return of Davy Jones and there is the potential to bring in more of the myths of the sea into things.

It's tricky to tell if this project moves ahead, although Disney would certainly want to use a familiar property to help the bad box office they had in 2023. A challenge would be the budget as the Pirates movies are never cheap and hard to tell how fans would respond. Still, by the time this reached theaters, it would be almost a decade since the last film, enough time to build up more interest in the project.

The question of whether or not Depp takes part will be key as the actor does have some baggage to him yet Jack Sparrow is the heart of the entire saga. It's still in the planning stages for now yet it seems Bruckheimer is set to have a fresh take on the famous Pirates to sail into theaters sooner rather than later.

Pirates of the Caribbean 1-5 streaming on Disney+.

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