Back in October it was reported that Disney has decided to drop Johnny Depp from Pirates of the Caribbean, tapping Deadpool screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick to work on a script for a reboot of the blockbuster action-adventure franchise.
The rumours were confirmed last month by Disney film production chief Sean Bailey, and now Forbes has posted an article which claims that Depp’s absence will save the Mouse House a whopping $90 million – presumably covering the actor’s upfront salary and backend.
The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise launched in 2003 with Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, which netted $654.3 million worldwide and saw Depp nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Captain Jack Sparrow.
Depp returned for sequels in 2006, 2007, 2011 and 2017, with all five movies grossing a combined $4.524 billion at the box office. The most recent instalment however – Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales – was met with negative reviews, and failed to match the box office performance of the first three sequels, grossing $794.9 million from a budget which reportedly soared as high as $320 million.
Are you excited about the prospect of a Pirates movie without Johnny Depp? Is it a mistake on Disney’s part to drop its lead? Or is the franchise already dead in the water? Let us know your thoughts in the comments…
