Yesterday’s news of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales getting moved to the Summer of 2016 was a bit of a shock, but it could also be seen as something of a good thing. The previous Pirates film, On Stranger Tides, while financially successful, was easily the weakest entry in the series. Even though there were four years in between the third and fourth films, it still felt lazy, and even worse, it was boring.
Hearing that the fifth film’s script isn’t quite where it needs to be yet seems to indicate that they’re putting some effort into it, and the fact that they’re willing to delay it a whole year would seem to mean that they really want to get this one right in order to get the series back on track.
This has led to a lot of speculation as to what the fifth film will actually be about. We’ve already seen a wide array of the supernatural, and now according to /Film, it appears as though the franchise will continue in that direction. They’ve managed to get their hands on what appears to be the first plot details for the upcoming film, with major points including the following:
- There’s a new female lead and foil for Jack Sparrow. She’s suspected of witchcraft, but is actually a scientist.
- Witches are a big part of the movie.
- One of the film’s leads is a ghost, hence the title. He’s a “former member of the British military now sided with Barbossa on a revenge mission.”
- Two new, young, romantic leads – a boy and girl – both from farming families get caught up in the mix.
- The film stars with an “awkward wedding” and ends with “a riff on the myth of the Bermuda Triangle.”
They go on to say how the “young, romantic leads” are “pure subplot fodder,” which immediately brings to mind Philip and Serena (the priest and mermaid) from the previous film, so hopefully the writers will look back and realize that this simply doesn’t need to be there, that is, unless they actually end up with an important part to play in the plot.
As for the rest of it, it sounds like it could be an intriguing film. The first three films are quite good, so I would like nothing more than to see the franchise deliver another exciting tale of Jack Sparrow. With about three years to go before we see the end result, let’s hope that they can do just that.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales currently has no release date set, but as I mentioned earlier, it’s expected to be out sometime in Summer 2016.