It looks like Vin Diesel has bested Dwayne Johnson in at least one arena, clocking in at number one on Forbes’ list of the highest-grossing actors of 2017 — and throwing a little more fuel on that Fast & Furious feud (say that five times fast). Thanks to The Fate of the Furious and xXx: Return of Xander Cage, Diesel edged out his Fast co-star / arch-nemesis, and with fewer 2017 releases under his belt.
Life kinda sucks when you’re a Disney pirate. One day you’re going about your business, plundering and looting in as family friendly a manner as you can muster, and the next thing you know you’re a undying ghost with all kinds of weird restrictions. Collect the gold, avoid moonlight, walk on water but not on land… honestly, is there even a rulebook for this sort of thing? The trial-and-error process these poor pirates must go through to figure out the boundaries of their life has to be exhausting.
A certain branch of criticism against the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean movie back when it came out in 2011 focused on the fact that this was the first one with barely a trace of Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann, two characters we’d all grown to love through a trilogy of movies, and, arguably, who are the actual heart and soul of the series. Without them, On Stranger Tides felt adrift, unable to find an emotional focus despite introducing a new generation of generically attractive leads. The good news for those of us who have stuck with the series this far is, thanks to the new international trailer, we know Elizabeth is coming back too. Along with a few more of Captain Jack’s “friends.”
Disney
The smartest thing that the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise ever did was introduce a revolving door of ghost pirate enemies. I don’t really care why Javier Bardem’s character hates Jack Sparrow, nor do I think for a moment that this is the film that will permanently kill Johnny Depp’s character off for good, but those plots points are secondary, the franchise’s equivalent of a ghost McGuffin (a McGhostin?). All I really care about is seeing charismatic actors like Bardem play campy villains.
For many movie fans, international trailers are an afterthought, an attempt to repackage previously released footage for a new market. But given the popularity of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies abroad, it’s probably safe to say that Disney takes its international footage pretty seriously. After all, the previous film in the franchise, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, grossed a total of $240 million domestically and $804 million internationally. Put another way: the film failed to make back its budget ($250 million) in the United States but tripled it abroad.
There’s a famous part of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride in Disneyland where an ominous voice says “Dead men tell no tales!” So I guess this is an adaptation of that line? These Pirates of the Caribbean movies are getting really granular.
It’s sad to hear Alan Rickman’s voice. We lost the great Die Hard and Harry Potter star just a few weeks ago; Rickman died after a battle with pancreatic cancer at the age of 69. His work in Alice Through the Looking Glass is his final onscreen performance; he plays Absolem, the Caterpillar. That’s him saying “You’ve been gone too long Alice. There are matters that cannot be neglected.
When Edgar Wright's 'Ant-Man' shuffled from November to July 2015 yesterday, there was a murmur it might either be to replace something or could cause a release date shuffle. The former appears to be the case as 'Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales' is now moving to summer 2016.
After 'The Lone Ranger' opened to poor reviews and disappointing box office, Johnny Depp was criticized for his recent acting choices. From 'Pirates of the Caribbean 4' to 'Dark Shadows,' many accused Depp of going through the motions, all-too-happy to cash his paycheck to star in whatever Disney or Tim Burton was asking him to star in, regardless of the quality.
In a related story, Johnny Depp is
Though 'The Lone Ranger' is still in theaters, with a less than $50 million five-day opening, the film is already in contention for one of the year's biggest misfires, if not outright failures. That Johnny Depp is currently lining up a new project means one of two things: He's rethinking what roles he should play or he taking big paydays while they're still around. That next project? 'Mortdecai.'
I loved 'Rango,' the last time Johnny Depp and Gore Verbinski offered up a madcap spin on the Western. I basically enjoyed 'John Carter,' last year's Western-infused would-be space epic, which, not coincidentally, was the last time Walt Disney stock holders had to reach for a shaker of Tums.
However, 'The Lone Ranger,' this new spazzed-out Western from Depp, Verbinski and Disney, takes unusual and