Pirates Of The Caribbean 4 smashes box office record
The critics might not have liked it, but audiences across the world have been flocking to see Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides…
Disney has won its gamble to bring the Pirates Of The Caribbean franchise back for a fourth outing, with promising global box office takings over the weekend. But conversely, the numbers have also surely given all concerned a warning shot.
With the script for a fifth Pirates film already written, there must be a little concern amongst the powers that be that the numbers are notably down on the last film.
Over the past weekend in the US, On Stranger Tides grossed an impressive $90.1m, making it the biggest release of the year thus far. But that's below the equivalent numbers for At World's End ($114.7m) and Dead Man's Chest ($135.6m), which suggests that, in America at least, audiences are tiring slightly of a franchise that now boasts three underwhelming movies to one good one.
Yet, Captain Jack's future has been assured by the numbers coming in from outside America. Staggeringly, Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides has brought in a frightening $256.3m outside of the US, since it started rolling out last week (the biggest opening ever outside of the US), and that means the film has taken $346.4m in under a week.
Given, er, the quality of the end product, that's the power of a franchise and a movie star wrapped up in one ball for you there, and any lingering doubts that Pirates 5 would happen should surely be eradicated in one stroke.
We would still point all concerned to our list of things that need to happen to improve this franchise, as the potential of it is being thrown away with abandon, for our money. Any film that can't make a potent villain out of Ian McShane has major problems.
Still, there's clearly a thirst for more adventures of Captain Jack Sparrow, and more adventures are exactly what we're going to get...
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