In his latest Pitch Meeting episode, Screen Rant’s Ryan George aims his sights on Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End and imagines what may have gone down in Disney’s production offices. The 2007 swashbuckling threequel, starring Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, and Keira Knightley, was conceived and shot at the final part of a two-film arc that began with 2006’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest. At the time of its making, At World’s End’s $300 million US budget made it the most expensive film ever made, a record it held until four years later when its 2011 sequel On Stranger Tides took the record with a staggering $379 million US budget. To date, On Stranger Tides still reigns over all of the Avengers films as the most expensive film ever made.
Following the conclusion of Dead Man’s Chest, At World’s End sees Geoffrey Rush’s Captain Barbosa and Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann seek to retrieve Captain Jack Sparrow, still trapped in Davy Jones’ locker after being swallowed by the Kraken. Meanwhile, the villainous Lord Cutler Beckett continues his plot to dominate the world’s oceans with the supernatural Davy Jones now firmly under his control. Clocking it at a considerable 167-minute runtime, it has the honor of becoming the highest-grossing film of 2007; however, audience reactions were mixed. A great deal of criticism was aimed at the film’s meandering, often confusing plot and uneven pacing.
In Screen Rant’s latest Pitch Meeting episode, Ryan George looks at the film’s numerous absurdities, and nothing escapes unscathed. Bloated and frequently illogical, the third installment in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise offers Ryan plenty of fodder. Check it out below:
Despite the critical and commercial success of the original Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, both the quality and audience reception of each successive entry have slipped sharply downhill. While the franchise has managed to bring in over $4.5 billion in the worldwide box office, there is little doubt that public confidence in the Pirates of the Caribbean brand has waned significantly over the years. Not only did the latest film Dead Man Tell No Tales, rate a dismal 29% on Rotten Tomatoes, but of the five films, only the first one can boast a “Certified Fresh” rating.
However, looking to the future, Disney seems as though they are not quite ready to be done with the franchise just yet, and plans for a reboot are now well under sail. Looking to cut ties with Johnny Depp’s Captain Jack Sparrow, the newest film currently in pre-production is set to star The Suicide Squad’s Margot Robbie and is slated to be penned by her Birds of Prey screenwriter Christina Hodson. We can only hope this latest reinvention can capture some of the original film's magic far better than Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End.