It appears there’s some life left in the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean‘ franchise, or at least Walt Disney Studios is hoping there is. The popular franchise, based on the Disneyland attraction, is now four movies in, and apparently counting. Walt Disney Studios has hired Jeff Nathanson, the man who wrote the Steven Spielberg film ‘Catch Me If You Can’, which starred Tom Hanks and Leonardo DiCaprio, to pen the currently untitled fifth film in the series. This will be the first in the series that hasn’t been written by Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio, which I think could actually be beneficial to the series. The movie is still set to be produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and will once again see Johnny Depp dawn his pirates outfit as Jack Sparrow. Nothing else about the film is known at this time. 

I really enjoy the first film in the series, and have some misgivings towards all the sequels, but I’ll say that the fourth was a step in the right direction for the series. But what really has me intrigued about this new entry is the fact that it has a new writer, which is fresh blood for the series. I think having someone new come in and taking a swing at writing the series is a great idea, and could really take the series in a new direction, breathing new life into it. That, to me, is very important, because the series could easily grow stale without that.

Nathanson is an excellent writer, and ‘Catch Me If You Can’ is one of my favorite movies of the last decade, as well as ‘The Terminal’, another Steven Spielberg directed film that Tom Hanks starred in. He’s great at writing interesting characters, as well as some very slick storylines, so I’m hoping that he’ll be able to bring some of his talents from those films to this one. His hiring definitely piques my interest, so I’m hoping this turns out to be a very solid sequel, one that could be almost as good as the first, but only time will tell. My other hope, or insistence, is that they bring back Geoffrey Rush as Captain Barbossa, who I think is the best character of the series, and he plays exceptionally well off of Johnny Depp.

I’ll definitely be keeping my eyes on this one and seeing how it develops, and you keep your eyes on Chip and Company, because we’ll report about it while we learn more. Are you excited to return to the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ franchise? Or are you ready for the series to sail into the sunset? Let me know in the comments below.

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Patrick (263 Posts)

Patrick Campbell is a self a huge geek and cinephile. Currently residing in Orange County, CA, he finds his time watching movies, reading comics, and trying to keep up with the latest film and theme park news. He actively uses twitter. Follow him at @pj_campbell.