This is an accepted version of this page Pirates of the Caribbean is an American fantasy supernatural swashbuckler film series produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and based on Walt Disney's theme park attraction of the same name.

The series is primarily written by Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio (1–4); other writers include Stuart Beattie (1), Jay Wolpert (1) and Jeff Nathanson (5).

The stories follow the adventures of Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp), with Hector Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) and Joshamee Gibbs (Kevin McNally) over the course of the films.

Other characters featured in the original trilogy include Will Turner (Orlando Bloom), Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley), James Norrington (Jack Davenport), Governor Weatherby Swann (Jonathan Pryce), Pintel and Ragetti (Lee Arenberg and Mackenzie Crook), Marty (Martin Klebba), Cotton (David Bailie), Murtogg and Mullroy (Giles New and Angus Barnett), Lieutenant Gillette (Damian O'Hare), Theodore Groves (Greg Ellis), Bootstrap Bill Turner (Stellan Skarsgård), Lord Cutler Beckett (Tom Hollander), Tia Dalma (Naomie Harris), Davy Jones (Bill Nighy), and Sao Feng (Chow Yun-Fat).

The fourth film features Angelica (Penélope Cruz), Blackbeard (Ian McShane), Philip Swift (Sam Claflin), Syrena (Àstrid Bergès-Frisbey), and Scrum (Stephen Graham).

Jack wants revenge against Barbossa, who left him stranded on an island before stealing his ship, the Black Pearl, along with 882 pieces of cursed Aztec Gold.

Lord Cutler Beckett of the East India Trading Company arrests Will and Elizabeth for aiding Captain Jack Sparrow in the previous film.

To stand against the East India Trading Co., Will, Elizabeth, Barbossa, and the crew of the Black Pearl set out to rescue Captain Jack Sparrow from Davy Jones' Locker.

[3] Shortly before the release of On Stranger Tides, it was reported that Disney was planning to shoot the fifth and the sixth films back-to-back,[4] although ultimately only the fifth installment was developed.

Jim Byrkit conceived the idea for a short film while on the Shipwreck Cove set Rick Heinrichs designed for Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007), a project which interested Brigham Taylor at Disney.

Screenwriters Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio collaborated with Byrkit on the script, having envisioned something based on the Pirate Code Book as a device that could tie into other stories later.

[36][39] In 2023, Rossio wrote on Wordplay that Tales of the Code was designed to be a series of a few fun shorts to fill in the Pirates universe and add to the DVD extras section.

[37] The short film Wedlocked serves as a prequel to Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, inspired by the auction scene in the Disneyland attraction.

[47] Verbinski was attracted to the idea of using modern technology to resurrect a genre, one that had disappeared after the Golden Age of Hollywood, and recalled his childhood memories of the ride, feeling the film was an opportunity to pay tribute to the "scary and funny" tone of it.

Depp was attracted to the story as he found it quirky: rather than trying to find treasure, the crew of the Black Pearl were trying to return it in order to lift their curse, with the traditional mutiny having already taken place.

Depp based Captain Jack Sparrow on a combination of The Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards and Looney Tunes cartoons, specifically the characters Bugs Bunny and Pepé Le Pew.

Verbinski approached Rush for the role of Captain Barbossa, whom Depp named "Hector" behind the scenes, as he knew he would not play it with attempts at complexity, but with a simple villainy that would suit the story's tone.

[49] Further additions include Jack Davenport as James Norrington, Kevin R. McNally as Joshamee Gibbs, Zoe Saldaña as Anamaria, David Bailie as Cotton, Lee Arenberg and Mackenzie Crook as Pintel and Ragetti, Martin Klebba as Marty, David Bailie as Cotton, Giles New and Angus Barnett as Murtogg and Mullroy, Damian O'Hare as Lieutenant Gillette,[45] and Greg Ellis as then-unnamed Theodore Groves.

[51] While Dick Cook had been a strong proponent of adapting Disney's rides into films, the box-office failure of The Country Bears (2002) made Michael Eisner and Robert Iger attempt to shut down production of Pirates of the Caribbean.

Although Bruckheimer was Disney's most reliable and successful producer, Eisner second-guessed the early footage, complaining about Depp's character, and as the budget rose, threatened to cancel the film.

[53][57] Writers Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio knew that with an ensemble cast, they weren't free to invent totally different situations and characters, as with the Indiana Jones and James Bond series, and so had to retroactively turn The Curse of the Black Pearl into the first of a trilogy.

[58] They wanted to explore the reality of what would happen after Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann's embrace at the end of the first film, and initially considered the Fountain of Youth as the plot device.

[72] With the stories of both Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) resolved in At World's End,[67] as well as both actors having declined involvement,[63][64][65] this forced a new approach while retaining some of the franchise favorites, particularly Pirates veterans Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp), Captain Hector Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush), and Joshamee Gibbs (Kevin R. McNally) from the original trilogy.

Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio discovered the novel On Stranger Tides by Tim Powers during production of Dead Man's Chest and At World's End, and decided to use it as the basis for a fourth film.

[73] Elliott and Rossio decided to do a stand-alone sequel,[74] with a story that would support new characters,[75] and incorporate elements from the novel, such as Edward "Blackbeard" Teach, the Fountain of Youth and mermaids—the latter two having been already alluded to in the previous films.

[78] Further additions include Sam Claflin as the missionary Philip Swift, Àstrid Bergès-Frisbey as the mermaid Syrena, Stephen Graham as Scrum, Richard Griffiths as King George II, and Óscar Jaenada as The Spaniard.

[67] After the costly production of two simultaneous films, Disney tried to scale down the fourth installment, giving a lower budget,[79] which led to cheaper locations and fewer scenes with special effects.

[89][90] The directing duo also confirmed that the title of the fifth film would be Dead Men Tell No Tales, alluding to the line well known from the theme-park attraction,[91][92][93] and that it would be both a stand-alone adventure and tie into the overall mythology of the series.

[97] Depp, Rush, McNally, Stephen Graham, Martin Klebba, Giles New and Angus Barnett returned to their roles from previous films, and the cast saw the additions of Javier Bardem as the Spanish Navy Captain Armando Salazar, Brenton Thwaites as Henry Turner, and Kaya Scodelario as Carina Smyth.

[120] On Stranger Tides was the third-highest-grossing film of 2011 worldwide, behind Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 and Transformers: Dark of the Moon, and the fifth in North America.