Producer Jerry Bruckheimer says the decision to push “Pirates of Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales,” which is set to return Johnny Depp to the role of Captain Jack Sparrow role, was made because of script issues. He is hopeful that the film can be ready for a summer 2016 release.
“We have an outline everyone loves but the script is not done,” reveals Bruckheimer.
The move comes in the aftermath of “The Lone Ranger’s” failure at the box office this summer. Disney has said that the $250m-plus production from the team behind the Pirates movies could lead to a $190m write down for the studio.
“It’s all a factor. We want a script that everyone’s signed off on and a budget that everyone’s signed off on.” (Such projects have cost as much as $300m in the past) Coming up with a great script is “always hard,” Bruckheimer says, and after this summer, “everybody’s more cautious.” The summer saw several costly movies underperform.
Disney now hopes to keep the cost of the fifth Pirates movie under $200m, a goal the studio is unlikely to meet. But bringing in “Kon-Tiki” directors Joachim Ronning and Espen Sandberg, who made their film on the water for a price, should help keep costs down. Nonetheless, industry observers have anticipated a tough negotiation between Disney and Bruckheimer, given the size of the “Lone Ranger” write down.
Bruckheimer says it was necessary to push the project because “we’re supposed to start in March and you start spending a lot of money now.” According to the producer, the Pirates filmmakers weren’t happy with screenwriter Jeff Nathanson’s initial script, and he’s now at work on a second attempt based on the well-received outline.
