Script for “Pirates of the Caribbean 4” Found Abandoned in Café

Disney Pictures was on the verge of a catastrophe the other day, when the script for the upcoming “Pirates of the Caribbean” film, “On Stranger Tides,” was found abandoned in a café in London. Luckily for the movie studio – but perhaps not so for fans of the franchise – the script was retrieved in due time, before any leak occurred to the media, AceShowbiz reports.

Because of the incredible success of the previous films in the franchise and the fact that the fourth one marks a departure from tradition by trying to make it work without the onscreen romantic pair played by Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley, interest in it is at the highest. Should someone else than a fan with a conscience had found the script, it would have undoubtedly popped up online in almost no time, thus putting Disney in quite a pickle. Fortunately, this was not the case.

“The plot of the fourth installment of the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ franchise nearly became public knowledge this week after a copy of the film’s script was found in a London cafe. Johnny Depp began shooting ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,’ his latest big-screen outing as Captain Jack Sparrow, in Hawaii in early June. But the secrecy surrounding the film’s storyline was nearly blown when movie workers accidentally left a copy of the screenplay behind after a breakfast meeting in the British capital, sending Disney studio executives into a panic,” the e-zine says.

“However, an embarrassing leak was prevented after a film fan found the 194-page document and handed it in to editors at Britain’s The Sun newspaper. And the unnamed good Samaritan refused to take a sneak peak at the script, telling the publication, ‘I’m a big fan of the films, but I managed to resist the urge to have a read. I want to enjoy the movie when it comes out.’ A Disney spokesperson says, ‘It’s good to see Sun readers are honorable citizens’,” the report further reads.

In other Pirates related news, aside from the addition to the cast of Penelope Cruz and Ian McShane, Disney confirmed a while back that the film would be shot and released in 3D, thus making the experience all the more memorable. Of course, going 3D is also the latest way movie studios have come up with to maximize profit by the higher ticket prices, so that consideration too must have weighed heavily in the balance.