but I would prefer one based on the Young Jack Sparrow books instead of the movies. Anyone have any info?
Back before
At World's End was released, there was some talk about how to 'extend the franchise' with either a another triology or even a television series about Young Jack Sparrow. Johnny Depp wasn't interested in doing any more movies, and Disney wanted to market the franchise "younger" because that's where the merchadise sales are. However a couple things happened which have essentially killed any future pirates project.
First, despite what some people think they understand from boxofficemojo,
AWE was a financial failure for Disney. Too much to produce and market, way too little box office for the price. Not only does about 40%-45% of the box office stay at the theater, but the movies were all produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. His take has never been published, but it's guessed to be north of 20%. And then there's the cut for the director, the cut for Johnny Depp, the cut for Industrial Lights and Magic...and Disney actually gets to keep a few cents on the dollar. It doesn't matter if the movie is the highest grossing movie of all time if you spend more than it takes in.
Further more, the third movie took in less than the second - an exceptionally bad sign for the public's interest in the franshicse. That was further reinforced by very poor merchandise sales (hell, even Tokyo
Disneyland has "Special Sales" on all their
Pirates junk). Even the Pirate changes to the parks were meet with tepid public response (notice how WDW never got the pirate makeover of Tom Sawyer's Island and even Disneyland's Phase 2 has been quietly shoved off the schedule). For a studio that's already struggling it makes little sense to create spin-offs of a franchise the public has lost interest in.
And lastly, furture projects really aren't in Disney's control. The movie properties are really controlled by Bruckheimer Productions. Any new movies or series would require their involvement...and Jerry has a lot of better projects to worry about that don't involve paying Johnny Depp $25 million.
Transformations was a hell of a lot more profitable for Mr. Bruckheimer; he has no incentive for anymore
Pirates flicks. They've made him a lot of money and now he can move on to something better. Besides, the production of
AWE was an utter disaster for all involved and probably added at least $75 million to the production cost. Neither Bruckheimer nor Disney are going to be anxious to jump right back into that mess again.
Sorry, but the reality of Hollywood Accounting are sometimes hard to take. In the end, Hollywood is built to make individuals rich - not companies. Disney took a bath with the last
Pirate flick and even Iger has enough brain wattage to get the point. It's time to move on to lower cost "franchises" (like
Underdog) and hope that something works.
If it's any consolation, Disney is trying the route again with
The Jungle Cruise.
