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Johnny Depp in his Captain Jack getup single-handedly sells tickets on this poster for Gore Verbinski's Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End |
Well-known pirates must band together and find Captain Jack Sparrow in a new quest across dangerous waters towards one final, huge battle.
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End is written by Ted Elliott (Small Soldiers (1998)) and Terry Rossio (Shrek (2001)) and directed by Gore Verbinski (Mousehunt (1997)). It is the third film in the Pirates franchise started with Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), with all the first 3 films being by Verbinski.
After two terrific, super-entertaining swashbuckler adventures, the third movie is a fantastically long, empty shell of a film. Johnny Depp (Edward Scissorhands (1990)) is back and self-satisfied as the at this point nauseating, 'charming' Jack Sparrow character. The plot almost completely went over my pirate's hat for the almost three hour runtime, but it is something about a strange, multi-ethnic, screaming pirate brotherhood. I failed to find the excitement in this, or rather the film failed.
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End has impressive effects, which wins the film its sole heart here.
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Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) - Verbinski's sprawling Disney swashbuckler is a prime summer spectacle
Watch a trailer for the film here
Cost: 300 mil. $
Box office: 960.9 mil. $
= Box office success (returned 3.20 times its cost)
[Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End premiered 19 May (California) and runs 169 minutes. It was the most expensive film ever made at the time. Depp was reportedly paid 50 mil. $ + profit participation that reportedly netted him another 40 mil. $, making his total take from the film an incredible 90 mil. $. Orlando Bloom was paid 11.9 mil. $; Keira Knightley 5 mil. $. Star producer Jerry Bruckheimer was paid 5 mil. $ + an unknown profit participation deal. Shooting took place from in August 2005 and from March - December 2006 in Singapore, Utah, New York, Hawaii, the Bahamas and California, including in Los Angeles. The film opened #1 to a 114.7 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it remained #1 for another weekend and then stayed in the top 5 for another 2 weekends (#2-#4), grossing 309.4 mil. $ (32.2 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Japan with 91.1 mil. $ (9.5 %) and the UK with 81.4 mil. $ (8.5 %). It was the year's highest-grossing film but only the 3rd highest-grossing in the Pirates franchise. It was the year's 4th highest-grossing in North America, behind Spider-Man 3, Shrek the Third and Transformers. The film was released with 10 minutes censored out in China, where the cut scenes were of Chow Yun-fat's character, apparently thought to be offensive to the Chinese, (the film grossed just 16.9 mil. $ (1.8 %, or not even double the gross in Denmark) according to the official numbers from China.) The film was nominated for 2 Oscars: Best Makeup, lost to La Vie en Rose, and Visual Effects, lost to The Golden Compass. It was also nominated for a BAFTA, among many other honors. The film sold DVDs alone in North America for more than 296 mil. $. The franchise returned with Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011). Verbinski returned with Rango (2011). Depp returned first in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007); Bloom in New York, I Love You (2008); and Knightley in Atonement (2007). Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End is rotten at 44 % with a 5.40/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End?