The film was released on July 9th, 2003 and became a massive success, bringing in $654.3 Million against a $140 Million budget.

When then Disney CEO Michael Eisner attempted to shut down the project, Verbinski was able to change his mind when he visited the production and saw what they had made. After many other choices, actor Johnny Depp was chosen as Verbinski believed Depp could bring a much-needed edge to the character.Īt one point, the film was nearly canceled as the 2002 film The Country Bears, another theme park-based ride, was a box office flop. Originally actor Jim Carrey was chosen to play Jack Sparrow but was unable to as scheduling conflicts prevented him from setting sail. The last big-budget Pirate film was 1995’s Cutthroat Island from MGM which cost $98 Million to make but only made back $10 Million.

Gore Verbinski (Known for directing Mouse Hunt and The Ring) signed on as director and wanted to use then modern technology to resurrect the genre of pirate films that had disappeared for some time. Jerry Bruckheimer was brought on as a producer who helped bring the supernatural elements to the story with writers Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio. The overall story was eventually ironed out into what we saw on screen. The idea for a film based on the popular 1967 Disneyland attraction had been in the works since the early 1990s. Their 1953 animated film Peter Pan featured pirates as the villains, the 1950 live-action adventure film Treasure Island revolved around lost pirate gold and the 1960 film Swiss Family Robinson follows a family who hide from pirates on a tropical island. Let’s follow the map and see where this journey began.ĭisney was no stranger to films based around pirates. While it seemed risky at first the concept paid off to become one of the most popular franchises in cinema with five films totaling over $4.5 Billion altogether. Twenty years ago Disney took a chance on making a film based on one of their theme park attractions.

Pirates of the caribbean hunt