Despite Pirates of the Caribbean being one of Disney’s biggest cash cow franchises, getting the fifth installment, Dead Men Tell No Tales, off the ground has been hard to accomplish. Kon Tiki directors Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg are attached to helm the film, with Johnny Depp confirmed to reprise the role of Captain Jack Sparrow, but the film has been delayed several times, and is now eyeing a 2017 release date, six years after the previous installment, On Stranger Tides.
Mega producer Jerry Bruckheimer has been saying that the film will begin production in early 2015, and a new report seems to back that up. According to Inside Film, Walt Disney Pictures is currently negotiating with the government of Australia to receive a 30% incentive to shoot “a big budget feature” in the country.
THR suggests that the “big budget feature” in question is actually 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, but the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) says the incentive “originally reserved for 20,000 Leagues to be reallocated to this new production,” suggesting that 20,000 Leagues was originally the focus of those negotiations, but those have since shifted to include the Pirates sequel.
If those negotiations go smoothly, Disney is looking at a $21.6 million incentive to film the swashbuckling adventure in Australia, which should help the studio shave off a chunk of the film’s hefty price tag.
Assuming all goes well, Pirates of the Caribbean 5 will sail into theaters on July 7th, 2017. Johnny Depp and Geoffrey Rush will reprise their roles, while Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds, Django Unchained) is being eyed to play the villain and Rebecca Hall (Iron Man 3, Vicky Christina Barcelona) is in contention to play an astronomer whose knowledge results in her being accused of witchcraft.
