Pirates of the Caribbean Franchise

[Dan]

Sean Rich, a weapons consultant and prop provider on a number of films including the Pirates franchise, was in town at one of the local comic shops for Free Comic Book Day and displayed some of the weapons used in the films. The one I best remember him describing was the one on the bottom right that Depp used in the opening of Dead Man's Chest.

(Lemme know if the image isn't showing properly)

[Daniel]

Reboot in the works... again.

[EricJ]

Thought the fifth movie (which was supposed to be the "New trilogy") ALREADY gave it the "kick in the pants" it deserved.

[Ben]

They need to do one that resolves several dangling plot points. Consistency, continuity or comprehensiveness has not been one of this series' strong points.

My guess is that Depp will be back. He’s been quiet of late, recuperating somewhere, and if he’s serious about sticking with acting, he’ll take a pay cut to make sure he’s in a big hit. Yeah, he has Beasts as a franchise, but that’s not really his thing, and now that Invisible Man fizzled out he’s still needing a franchise number two. If Pirates were to sail again, it’ll be at least a couple of years before it lands on screens, giving us a break from seeing him and an anticipation to see him and the character again.

[EricJ]

My guess is that Depp will be back.

No, "Reboot" means "Start the franchise name from scratch, now that the actor's too old."

Although they probably may chicken out and take another try at a "Legacy-quel" where the original actor gets to write himself out of the series and train in his new replacement...The last attempt had Will Turner Jr., and if this attempt doesn't go straight to Disney+ streaming series, we'll likely be introduced to Jack Sparrow, Jr. (Illegitimate, of course.)

[Ben]

Well, I was going to suggest we might see Son Of Sparrow, but I don’t think they’re ready to go that route yet. And reboot hasn’t meant from scratch for a while now...that would wipe out most of the recent "reboots" that we have had, hence why some people have been trying to make that awful word "requel" stick.

[EricJ]

If you're thinking in computer terms, "Reboot" DOES mean "From scratch"--
Just that studios have gotten too nervous and backpedaling whether they want to make a movie that merchandises fans' love of the original classic films, or just wipe the slate clean so their, quote-fingers, "Remake" can be whatever the darn heck they want it to be, and still keep the lucrative audience-identified brand-name for future improvisations.

As a result, studios chicken out, and we get fish-or-fowl hybrids like the Ghostbusters (sequel?/remake?/franchise-reboot?), just as long as they can slap a well known corporate icon on a teaser poster, and a date underneath it without even a title.

[James]

Yikes! Look at those 4K video and audio scores!

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Pirates- ... 35/#Review

[Ben]

I’ve been following the run up to this release and the early word on this and a concurrently released Aussie five film collection has been along those lines from day one, with many saying they’ve just slapped the sub-standard D+ stream on a disc. Proof, again, that 4K isn’t always the be-all and end-all. The amount of transfers that I’ve gone back to the Blu-rays on is quite astonishing, and I still think player and projector upsampling can and does a better job because it has to work harder. And HDR really can go as bright as your display, so the "brighter brights" can only be so bright, with everything else dropping into darkness to achieve that. I like having the 4Ks in the event of a good transfer, but so many have been underwhelming — particularly those older titles that in theory should look amazeballs but are hampered by soft cinematography or rough filmstock inherent in the image — so I am glad that the Blu-rays are usually included.