Adapted from a fan-favorite ride at Disneyworld, the Pirates of the Caribbean was to be turned into a female-led franchise, helmed by Margot Robbie. After the accusations levied indirectly against Johnny Depp in the 2018 Washington Post op-ed, films and franchises had begun retracting away from the actor, one of them being the Disney goliath.
Incidentally for Disney, the film’s fifth installment with the actor had also failed to impress, and it gave the studio the impetus to steer its direction, navigate out of the troubling waters, and land on shore with a female Pirates film.
Also read: Fans Revolt After Jerry Bruckheimer Says Johnny Depp Jack Sparrow Future is Undecided
Disney’s Waltz With Margot Robbie’s All-Female Pirates Film
Jerry Bruckheimer’s Pirates of the Caribbean movie franchise was disbanded after the Johnny Depp trial, and Margot Robbie stepped in to take over the role in an all-female Pirates movie. That idea was operational for about two years after the Amsterdam actress announced the female-fronted film in June 2020. In the time that followed, scripts were written and executives failed to be pleased.
Most recently, however, in a Vanity Fair article published in November ’22, Robbie had put to rest the idea of her film, stating that the script, penned by Birds of Prey writer Christina Hodson, had failed to impress the studio — “I guess they don’t want to do it.” The comment came in tandem with Pirates of the Caribbean franchise producer, Jerry Bruckheimer who announced that the studio was inclined to go with another script that they were preparing parallel to the female one.
A month after the disappointing updates and the fruitless 2-year wait, it seems the studio is back on board with Margot Robbie at the helm this time. Bruckheimer, in a recent piece by The Hollywood Reporter, claims about the Robbie film:
“It’s alive for me. It’s alive for Disney. I’m sure she was disappointed it didn’t go first — or maybe not because she’s very busy, so it might be a blessing to push this a bit. We believe we’ll get it made. It’s a very strong story.”
However, according to the Top Gun: Maverick producer, the script is still a little rough around the edges and needs some work before it can be sent off into the production lineup.
Disney Reboots the Pirates of the Caribbean Movie Franchise
Despite the Margot Robbie film going ahead at Disney, the other script that had been developed alongside the female-fronted one is aimed at delivering a reboot of the Pirates franchise, closing the legacy chapter of Johnny Depp’s Captain Jack Sparrow once and for all. With a much younger cast who can carry the film forward well into the future, the film is almost set to launch into pre-production. Bruckheimer informs THR,
“We have a very good script. We developed two of them — the one with Margot Robbie and one with a younger cast. The Margot Robbie one needs a little more work. The younger cast one is close. Hopefully we’ll get both of them.”
The script for the reboot is being penned by Ted Elliott (a veteran writer of the franchise) and Craig Mazin, best known as the creator of the HBO miniseries, Chernobyl. Bruckheimer also stated that although Depp is not involved at the moment in any of the active projects, he “would love to have him in the movie.”
No release date has been set for the movies yet.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
