Oh boy, it looks like there’s another Pirates of the Caribbean movie in the works. No, I mean another, another. One that’s separate from the reboot that was announced in the fall of last year — though, this one is still in the works too.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the new Pirates of the Caribbean film will be female-fronted and will star Margot Robbie, whom you may know as Harley Quinn from the DCEU. Christina Hodson, who wrote and directed the Quinn-starrer, Birds of Prey, has been tapped to pen the script. Per THR:
While plot details are being kept in Davey Jones’ locker, the project, in early development, is not intended to be a spinoff of the long-running franchise that had pirate Jack Sparrow at its center, but rather a wholly original story with new characters under the Pirates moniker, itself inspired by the long-running attraction at Disneyland.
There was a time, where I used to salivate at the prospect of walking into a theatre to watch a new Pirates of the Caribbean film. But that ship — pun absolutely intended — has sailed. While the Pirates film progressively deteriorated in quality after the Curse of the Black Pearl, the original trilogy as a whole, is still an earnest swashbuckling adventure that I do like to revisit from time to time. But the fourth and fifth movies are borderline unwatchable. The screenplays are shoddily written and even Captain Jack Sparrow, a once-beloved character, was turned into a cartoon version of his former self.
So, no, I’m not in the least bit interested in another Pirates of the Caribbean movie. However, we do live in an era of reboots and remakes, and so, I’m not the least bit surprised Disney is going back to the well. Especially since, even the lesser Pirates films have proven to be big moneymakers (the fifth film, Dead Man Tell No Tales, grossed over $US 790 million worldwide).
I guess, if we’re going to get another Pirates movie whether we like it or not, then Christina Hodson certainly is an interesting hire. If her last two films — Bumblebee and Birds of Prey — tell us one thing, it’s that she’s highly capable of breathing new life into a rotting franchise.
