MOVIE NEWS – Disney make new plans; they want the Deadpool writers.
Disney may think to reboot the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise with perhaps the hottest screenwriting duo in Hollywood at the moment. Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick – who were indeed behind the Deadpool movies – have met with the Mouse House about a possible reboot for the multi-billion dollar franchise. They haven’t closed a deal already and it seems like they are still in early discussions, but this could be massive. Also, it could mean Johnny Depp could kiss his Captain Jack Sparrow role good-bye.
According to an article by Deadline, Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick are in early talks to write the script for the Pirates of the Caribbean reboot. Once again: we should caution that these are just early discussions, but it’s still exciting all the same. Reese and Wernick, who wrote Deadpool and this year’s very successful sequel, Deadpool 2, have also penned Zombieland and its upcoming sequel, also 6 Underground, which is being directed by Michael Bay for Netflix, with Ryan Reynolds on board to star. To add to that, they also wrote the sci-fi thriller Life and are attached to a Clue remake.
So it seems, that Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick have a hot hand right now and a bright golden touch. Disney, in the meantime, is just purchasing most of Fox’s media assets, comprising all of their movie studio, 20th Century Fox. So they’re going to be more franchise-focused than ever and, seeing that the Pirates of the Caribbean movies to date have made $4.5 billion worldwide, they may think that continuing the series in another way may be a good idea. Handing the reins over to a duo like Reese and Wernick could be a great way to breathe some new life into it.
After five entries, it’s entirely possible that audiences want something new. While still successful, last year’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales grossed $794 million worldwide, which is the second-worst in the history of the franchise. Up to this point, the series has been known for Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow. Nevertheless, Depp’s troubles, including alleged abuse to his ex-wife Amber Heard, in addition to reported on-set issues, may mean it’s time for Disney to move on from the character and take the movies in a new direction. Let’s not forget either, how they fired James Gunn recently from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, they’ve set a standard of expected behaviour for those the studio works with.
It was reported in August that Disney was in the early stages of working on Pirates of the Caribbean 6. At the time, it was expected that it would be a sequel, as opposed to a reboot. However, things change, and it looks like the guys who made Deadpool one of the biggest franchises on the planet may take a crack at making this one new again. We’ll be sure to keep you posted as any further details on the project are made available.
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