From the opening scene onwards The Curse of the Black Pearl is filled with legitimately scary scenes, and audiences unfamiliar with Jack Sparrow spent most of their first viewing certain he wouldn't survive until the credits. Part of what made the first film such a delightful surprise upon its release was the surprisingly high stakes of its story and the genuinely threatening villains. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest Was Too Light (And Too Long) That has eventually made its way to the box office too: although two of the Pirates of the Caribbean sequels grossed over $1 billion worldwide, the most recent installment, 2017's Dead Men Tell No Tales, was the franchise's lowest performer since the first. There's a general sense of fatigue with the series, but there are numerous more specific problems with the sequels.
PIRATES OF THE CARIBEAN MOVIE
The series has seen a significant decline in its critical approval, with the solid 79% Rotten Tomatoes score of the first movie dropping to 53% for the first sequel, and only continuing to get lower ever since. Related: Pirates of the Caribbean: What 'The Mark' Was That Jack Left On Beckett So what went wrong with the film's string of increasingly weak sequels?
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The movie had a secret weapon in the form of a career-defining central turn from Johnny Depp as the feckless antihero Captain Jack Sparrow, a role Disney studio originally hated. But there wasn't a weak link in the large cast, the romantic subplot was more moving than perfunctory, the scary scenes packed a real punch, and the plot was agreeably twisty and unpredictable for a summer blockbuster. But the film was a surprise success and managed the rare feat of winning over both critics and audiences with its quick wit, swashbuckling action sequences, and game cast. The first Pirates of the Caribbeanmovie was an instant action-adventure classic upon release, so what went wrong with the film's many disappointing sequels? Directed by The Ring's Gore Verbinski and based on a theme park ride, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl did not look like much when it arrived in cinemas way back in 2003.