'Pirates of the Caribbean' Celebrates Major Milestone

One of Disney’s most popular film franchises to evolve in the live-action realm has easily been Pirates of the Caribbean. 

Today, the film franchise has a reason to celebrate because Pirates of the Caribbean just turned 18 and the films are still just as popular and relevant as they were 18 years ago! Perhaps even more so. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl was released on June 28, 2003, and when the film came out, Disney did not think that it would have much success.

This would be the first time a Disney attraction was converted into a movie, and Disney did not think that it would fare well at the box office. The movie was even discussed as something that would potentially go straight to DVD, and big wig actors like Robert De Niro did not want to attach themselves to the project in the assumption it would fail. 

Of course, five films later, we now know that that was not the case whatsoever. The original films’ main characters were the infamous Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp), Will Turner (Orlando Bloom), and Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley). As the films went on, both Bloom and Knightley departed from the franchise leaving Depp as the main character.

Even though talk of Pirates of the Caribbean 6 starring Margot Robbie has been hushed with little to no public development, Pirates of the Caribbean is still in the spotlight as Johnny Depp has been fired from the franchise, which caused major ripples throughout the Pirates of the Caribbean fan community who love Depp as Jack Sparrow. 

Johnny Depp lost a libel case against U.K. tabloid The Sun, who published an article painting Depp as a domestic abuser as noted by his ex-wife, Amber Heard. The two have an ongoing legal battle of $150 million that many are following. Still, it seems that although a verdict has not yet been made, Disney decided to distance themselves from the actor, despite fans petitioning for them to do otherwise. 

So far, the five films in the Pirates franchise are:

• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (2006)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (2007)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017)

With two more films in development, it seems that with or without Johnny Depp, Disney is continuing to helm the ship forward.

What do you think of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise?