Pirates of the Carribean Movie Update

[lrodk]

IGN.com has some interesting updates on the Pirates of the Carribean movie plot-line, characters and artwork. I remain cautiously optimistic about this one. Here's the link:

http://filmforce.ign.com/articles/372/372416p1.html

 

[scooby-the-doo]

Optimistic on a creative level? Look at the director.
Optimistic on a financial level? Think Cuttthroat Island.

 

[lrodk]

I'm cautiously optimistic for several reasons. The film does seem to have a degree of talented star appeal in Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom(of Lord of the Rings fame) and Acadamy Award winner Geoffrey Rush. If you recall, the script for Pirates was penned by a quartet of writers, with the most recent draft by Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio (Shrek, The Mask of Zorro, The Road to El Dorado). The pair were hired to add the supernatural elements to a previous draft by Stuart Beattie. Beattie's version was a brush-up of the first draft by screenwriter Jay Wolpert (The Count of Monte Cristo). Beattie, regarded as an expert on pirates, was brought on to add realism, which is probably what they should have done for Cutthroat Island. . From what I've read about the storyline, there is definite potential here. And Jerry Bruckheimer's involvement should not be discounted, especially since he has had a number of commercially successful films in the recent past(Armageddon, Black Hawk Down, The Rock, Con Air,). While Pearl Harbor did not meet the expectations of many critics, it did manage to pull in over $200 million here in the states, with more than double that in video sales/rentals, not to mention the international box office take. Critical aclaim does not always translate into commercial success(think Titanic, ET, Star Wars). In the end the masses have the final word. And lastly, I love Pirate films. I suppose that's why Pirates is among my top 3 rides at WDW.

 

[scooby-the-doo]

Oh, Cuttthroat Island is one of the great guilty pleasures -- I mentioned it because it was the last pirate film and it managed to bring down a studio. Frank Langella is over-the-top brilliance in his preformance. The question is, just how much will Rush ham it up?

 

[Another Voice]

There are a couple of things interesting about this one. Eisner is really putting a lot of pressure on the movie and is now throwing all kinds of money at it. This has become one of those ‘Pearl Harbor’ movies: they’re trying so hard to keep costs down that it’s making the movie more expensive to make.

There are so very large sets being built on the Disney lot, there’s another set being built on some ocean bluffs south of Los Angeles (the infamous Marieneland lot) and even a huge set is being built in the old Spruce Goose dome down in Long Beach. The general thinking, I suppose, is that shooting in LA is somehow cheaper than the real Caribbean (it isn’t), but to get the proper look for the movie they’re spending a lot of money to recreate sets that look like the Caribbean. And just to show how “cost conscious” they are, Disney through a giant party on the Burbank sets for the Hollywood types.

And the casting is also very strange. The three “big” names aren’t exactly known for being in either Bruckheimer-type movies or even in action films. They’re also real actors and Bruckheimer movies aren’t known for their strong acting. And none of them are a box office draw; there are rumors already that the marketing department is having fits. In general, this has all the indications of being a toss-away project they gave to Bruckheimer to smooth over a lot of rough spots, but no it’s suddenly a huge giant summer release movie that will have to do $250+ million again.

The best comment I’ve heard – “The last time someone spent this kind of dough on a water movie, it was the ‘Perfect Storm’ and look what happened there. At least that’s based on a Pulitzer Prize winning book. This is from a kiddie land ride. Shows you kind of how Disney works theses days – doesn’t it…”

 

[OnWithTheShow]

Only that it is one of the most popular "kiddie land" rides ever created.

 

[EUROPA]

...oh boy....oh boy a movie based on Space Mountain! The most popular Roller Coaster ever built.

 

[Captain Crook]

There are some very large sets being built on the Disney lots, there's another set being built on some ocean bluffs south of Los Angeles (the infamous marineland lot) ... The general thinking, I suppose, is that shooting in LA is somehow cheaper than the real Carribean (it isn't) but to get the proper look for the movie they're spending a lot of money to recrete sets that look like the Carribean...

Well, Mr. Voice, they ARE going to be shooting the movie in St. Vincent (the real Carribean, I believe ) so perhaps all of this set work in LA is groundwork for a real quality movie?...

 

[lrodk]

Disney will hold an open casting call Oct. 19 for swashbucklers to perform in the Pirates of the Caribbea film. Auditions will be held at the Pier in St. Petersburg, Florida from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m.

Similar casting calls will be conducted in Miami and Key West. About 250 actors will be chosen for those events. According to St. Petersburg/Clearwater film commissioner Jennifer Parramore, selected actors will travel to California for two weeks of "pirate training" then spend two months on location on St. Vincent, part of the Windward Islands chain about 200 miles northeast of Venezuela. It seems that Disney has taken AVs point to heart. Much of the filming will apparantly be done in the Carribean.

For information, call Parramore's office at (727) 464-7240 or Susan Robertson at (727) 821-6443.

 

[Another Voice]

Okay – it appears that there will be some major action sequences filled on location. They’ve reverted to the ‘Pearl Harbor’ shooting schedule. They’re going on location for the “feel” of it and then filming the major “star” work and the interior shots here in L.A. There are rumors that if you own a tall ship in Florida there’s a guy with a check waiting to see you.

Down at the Spruce Goose dome they’re rumored to be shooting the big pirate ship battle scenes. In the parking lot of the abandoned Marineland they’re building a fort and pirate ship on wheels. Because of the way the parking lot sits, you be able to shoot at angles with a wide ocean horizon. Again, they did the same thing for ‘Pearl Harbor’.

There’s no doubt they are spending tons of money on this show – rumors continue to say ‘Pirates’ will top ‘Pearl’ for final cost. But money does not equal quality.

 

[Jeff in BigD]

The thing is, despite my moral objections to the ride-to-movie idea, I want to like this movie. I love pirate movies, but I have a bad feeling about this. Everyone needs to be on the same page, but unfortunately it seems like these days it's all about a juggling act, too many generals, not enough soldiers. I hoping for a Captain Blood or Treasure Island...but I have a feeling that we'll probably see Ice Pirates.

 

[Captain Crook]

I'm trying to follow your logic Voice, are you now saying that spending money on a movie is bad?

It seems like (particularily from your perspective) the quality of the movie should be the ONLY factor. If they choose to spend 250 million making a great picture (and it truly is great) will it matter to you if the public 'pans it' and it only makes 150 million back??? Or should it matter to any of us who preach the quality first mantra?

My point is they are spending the money to make a big movie...Ths alone can't be indicitive of too much negative can it?

 

[scooby-the-doo]

Originally posted by Another Voice
There’s no doubt they are spending tons of money on this show – rumors continue to say ‘Pirates’ will top ‘Pearl’ for final cost. But money does not equal quality.

That's correct. See Pearl Harbour for a key example to this rule.

 

[Another Voice]

It’s always the quality of the movie with the resources you have – quality is never increased only by spending more money. Throwing money at a movie (such as ‘Pearl Harbor’) doesn’t automatically make a great movie, just as not throwing money at a movie (for example ‘The Rookie’) automatically creates a bad one. I’ve never said anyone should spend every dime they can get their hands on. In fact my job is to see that people spend as little money as possible on making movies.

Quality comes from the story and the talent of the people involved. Quality comes from lots of hard work and imagination. Quality comes from creatively solving problems and from turning one’s limitations into one’s advantages.

That’s all very difficult to do. And in Hollywood most people choose to spend money rather than put in long hours. The production team for ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ doesn’t have a reputation for putting out hard effort to make quality work – they let their checking account handle that load. All of the bombs in ‘Pearl Harbor’ are there because they are easier to create than interesting characters, an intriguing plot and an emotionally moving theme.

Every indication suggests that the same process is happening with ‘Pirates’: a weak script that serves as nothing but as a way to fill time between the explosions. I hope I’m wrong because I really do like pirate movies and ‘Pirates’ is the single best attraction Disney has ever created. But the history here doesn't fill me with a lot of hope.

There is no magic number about how much money a movie should cost to make, no line the separates good movies from bad movies. You have to spend enough to tell the story you’re trying to tell. A movie as broad and sweeping as ‘The Alamo’ can’t be made on the cheap – the original script requires a vast scope to tell its story. Spending less on that script won’t produce a good movie. And dressing up a very bad script with lots of money like Bruckheimer tried to do with ‘Pearl Harbor’ doesn’t work either. The budget for the movie could have easily been cut in half simply by spending another weekend in front of the word processor. The result would have been a vastly better movie.

It’s all how you spend what you got.