Last month, Margot Robbie let it slip that her planned female-led “Pirates Of The Caribbean” movie is dead in the water. But according to Jerry Bruckheimer, the man behind the profitable Disney franchise, that may not be the case. Collider reports that in a new interview about the “National Treasure” Disney+ series, Bruckheimer said Robbie’s “Pirates” film is still a go, it’s just that the sixth film of the franchise comes first.
“I think that that script will come forward at a certain point,” Bruckheimer told Collider. “We developed two different stories for “Pirates,” and the other one’s going forward first, so that’s what we’re working on, to try to get that one made.” So, that’s good news for fans of the franchise. However, this only re-confirms what fans already know from another Bruckheimer interview earlier this year. It’s also unclear if Johnny Depp will indeed return as Captain Jack Sparrow for future installments. And, yeah, the last “Pirates” film, 2017’s “Dead Men Tell No Tales,” was five years ago at this point. These films were lucrative for Disney once upon a time, but maybe that ship has sailed.
In any event, the “Pirates” scripts in development have Ted Elliott, writer of the first four films in the franchise, attached. “Chernobyl” creator Craig Mazin is also on board to help develop the sixth film, a promising name to have involved. And back in 2020, Robbie’s spinoff had “Birds Of Prey” scribe Christina Hodson attached. But still, it’s not great that Robbie spoke about her movie to Vanity Fair last month in the past tense. “We had an idea and we were developing it for a while, ages ago, to have more of a female-led — not totally female-led, but just a different kind of story — which we thought would’ve been really cool, but I guess they don’t want to do it,” Robbie told VF.
So, who should “Pirates” fans believe more about the franchise’s future: Bruckheimer the producer, or Robbie the actress? It’s a toss-up at this point, but let’s take a look at the numbers again, shall we? “Dead Men Tell No Tales” made nearly $800 million worldwide off a budget that may have maxed out at $320 million. That’s not as successful as the series in its prime, but still solid. And money is what Disney ultimately cares about here. So, let’s put a safe bet that Robbie’s “Pirates” film gets greenlit at some point, but it may be later rather than sooner.
