14 DAY TRIAL // With “On Stranger Tides,” Disney proved to the world that the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise was not a sinking ship as long as Johnny Depp was on board. Right now, the movie studio is negotiation with its main star the contract for the fifth installment, it has emerged.
Depp said from the start that he would continue making “Pirates” movies for as long as audiences would let him and ask him back as Captain Jack Sparrow, but, until just recently, that was all talk.
TheWrap has learned that, shortly after the fourth film in the series crossed the $1 billion mark at the international box office, the studio had already summoned Johnny to start negotiations for a new contract.
“Johnny Depp is close to signing a deal to star in a fifth Pirates of the Caribbean movie, an individual close to the negotiations told TheWrap,” the e-zine says.
“In May, producer Jerry Bruckheimer said he was working on a fifth Pirates script – and that he wouldn’t make the movie without Depp,” TheWrap writes.
Said statement makes complete sense, since it was confirmed that it was Depp all along who made the “Pirates” franchise such a hit and not the other actors in it – when Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom left the franchise, many feared it wouldn’t make sense to continue it without them.
Now, another source tells the movie-oriented publication that Johnny has already seen a draft for the script and he liked it, so much so that he’s already negotiating his paycheck for “Pirates 5.”
This may take a while, since reports in the media claim he made a whopping $350 million with the previous installments, which means he may be asking for a raise as well.
For “On Stranger Tides” alone, Depp was reportedly paid $38 million in advance.
“Another individual close to the franchise said that a rough draft for the script was in, and that producer Bruckheimer and others were meeting intensively – three and four times a week – on improving it,” TheWrap says.
“A deal will depend on whether Depp likes the script, but this individual said the broad strokes were in place for a deal with the lead actor,” adds the same report.