Apr 1, 2011 09:55 GMT  ·  By
Jerry Bruckheimer says future “Pirates” movies will be stand-alone releases
   Jerry Bruckheimer says future “Pirates” movies will be stand-alone releases

As the release date for the fourth “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie draws near and amidst talk that the fifth and sixth movies are in the pipeline, fans are bringing up the very interesting question of what will happen with the franchise afterwards. Jerry Bruckheimer has the answer to that.

When it was announced that “On Stranger Tides” would take the story into a different direction from the previous 3 films since Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley were no longer with the cast, many believed Disney was making a Cpt. Sparrow-centered franchise.

Bruckheimer is now saying that this is only partially true, in that the future of the franchise depends on Johnny Depp entirely and on whether he has plans to continue with it, Bleeding Cool reports.

In a recent interview, Bruckheimer pointed out that “On Stranger Tides” is not a “sequel” in the basic sense of the word but rather a stand-alone film – future ones will be just that as well.

“The audience told us what they loved about it is that it was fresh, it was new, it was a whole new story. So that will carry over into the next one, too, to give it something fresh and different,” Bruckheimer says.

“As long as the audience embraces this one, we’ll certainly try to make another one. It’s really up to Johnny. He loves the character,” he adds.

There’s very little doubt that audiences won’t “embrace” the film; in fact, it’s poised to be an even bigger hit than previous releases from the “Pirates” franchise.

So, if Depp is game for a fifth film, it will happen: and it will tell another story of Cpt. Jack Sparrow, unrelated to the one detailed in “On Stranger Tides.”

Or, as Bleeding Cool puts it, Disney’s “Pirates of the Caribbean” could be like the new “James Bond,” only with pirates.

“He can be the new James Bond – less well groomed, less obviously drunk and even more difficult to recast,” the movie e-zine says.