The continued success of CGI franchises like Avatar proves that a Pirates of the Caribbean reboot is necessary. The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise has been in limbo since the release of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales was released in 2017. However, despite the many failed attempts at reboots and sequels since then, the franchise has been stalling since the end of Gore Verbinski’s original trilogy with Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End in 2007.
Both the fourth film, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, and the aforementioned fifth film were received poorly by both fans and critics alike. This led to the planned spin-off featuring Margot Robbie being canceled and the development hell of the sixth film. However, the success of movie franchises centered around CGI creations like Avatar is enough reason for a reboot of Pirates of the Caribbean, so long as it is similar to Verbinski’s original trilogy.
A Pirates Of The Caribbean Reboot Could Rival Avatar’s CGI
One of the more commonly praised elements of Verbinski’s original trilogy, specifically Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest and At World’s End, was the fantastic CGI work on display. Davy Jones and his crew were entire CGI creations, created through motion capture performances. Considering Dead Man’s Chest and At World’s End released in 2006 and 2007 respectively, the CGI work was masterful. However, only two years later James Cameron topped it with Avatar.
With Avatar: The Way of Water releasing in 2022, the continued success of the CGI-heavy franchise is clear to see. If a Pirates of the Caribbean reboot happened sometime in the 2020s, creatures akin to Davy Jones and his crew could rival those of Cameron’s universe. While the Avatar franchise remains undefeated in terms of the CGI environments it creates from the ground up, the CGI work for motion capture creatures could be rivaled.
Why Any Pirates Reboot Would Need To Emulate The Original Trilogy
However, this would only be the case if any Pirates of the Caribbean reboot was more emulative of Verbinski’s original trilogy. While the fourth and fifth films in the franchise had their fair share of impressive CGI, they were less focused on the intricate monster designs of Verbinski’s second and third films. Therefore, any Pirates of the Caribbean reboot must be more akin to the original trilogy in its character and creature designs. That way, the film could make more use of modern-day CGI and rival the character designs of franchises like Avatar.
Also, on a more simple level, the original Pirates trilogy were better-made films than those that have come after it. Outside the better implementation of CGI in the original three films, the writing from Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio better captured the spirit of golden age piracy, likely bolstered by Verbinski’s singular visions as the duo also wrote the fourth film with less positive results. As Verbinski has done some story work for films like Rango and A Cure For Wellness, he could return as a writer on the new film to better capture the original trilogies spirit.
The Pirates Reboot Should Be A Sequel, Not A New Story
Therefore, this all means that any Pirates of the Caribbean reboot should be a sequel to the already existing films as opposed to a new story. However, this should be done in a soft reboot style in order to make the franchise fresh again. With Pirates of the Caribbean 6 technically being in development since 2017, Disney should opt to soft reboot the franchise and reintroduce the characters of the original trilogy. After all, the best part of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales was the end sequence in which Elizabeth Swann, Will Turner, and Jack Sparrow were on-screen again for the first time since 2007.
“We’re still working on it” – producer Jerry Bruckheimer discusses Johnny Depp’s potential return to “Pirates of the Caribbean” pic.twitter.com/GrIre7W4bm
— AP Entertainment (@APEntertainment) December 13, 2022
This excitement only continued with the post-credits scene of the fifth film teasing that Davy Jones would somehow return. A soft reboot could be possible while still building on this post-credits scene. A potential reboot could take place years after and see Davy Jones having some kind of dominion over the seas, with Jack Sparrow having to bring Elizabeth and Will back for Pirates 6 to help him overcome their old adversary. While there were some issues with Johnny Depp and Disney over the former’s court case with Amber Heard, he could still return as mentioned by Jerry Bruckheimer. All of this only goes to show why a Pirates of the Caribbean reboot is necessary, and could massively benefit from the modern state of filmmaking.
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