Updated

Updated · Deadline · Aug 16

Bruckheimer Confirms Johnny Depp Talks for Pirates 6 as Disney Revives $4.5 Billion Franchise

Updated

Updated · Deadline · Aug 16

Bruckheimer Confirms Johnny Depp Talks for Pirates 6 as Disney Revives $4.5 Billion Franchise

Q: Why did Disney secretly kill a highly anticipated rival pirate movie starring Hugh Jackman?

Disney appears to have shelved the Hugh Jackman-led *Treasure Island* package for competitive franchise reasons, not because of a creative fallout. Industry reporting says Ridley Scott’s *Treasure Island*, with Jackman attached to play Long John Silver and Jack Thorne writing, was shown to 20th Century Studios, which had a first look because of Scott’s relationship with the company. But 20th Century is owned by Disney, and Disney’s live-action division currently sees *Pirates of the Caribbean* as a priority property. Rather than back another big pirate movie that could compete for audience attention, marketing resources and release space, the studio passed. That decision lines up with the latest *Pirates 6* news. Jerry Bruckheimer said at D23 that Disney is still developing the screenplay and is talking with Johnny Depp. Separate reporting says the next film is being shaped as a new chapter led by Margot Robbie’s character, with Depp’s Jack Sparrow potentially in a supporting role. In other words, Disney is trying to revive and expand its own pirate brand, not dilute it with a rival swashbuckler in the same corporate family. So the movie was not “secretly killed” in the sense of being shut down everywhere. Disney declined to make it internally, and the package then went out to the broader market. The likely reason was straightforward brand protection: Disney did not want a competing pirate film while it works to relaunch *Pirates of the Caribbean*.

3 articles · Updated · Deadline · Aug 16

Jerry Bruckheimer said at D23 that Disney is talking with Johnny Depp about "Pirates of the Caribbean 6" while a screenplay is still being developed.
Sources cited in the report say the new film would not center on Captain Jack Sparrow alone, instead shifting focus to a Margot Robbie-led protagonist with Sparrow in a supporting role.
The franchise is trying to evolve after 2017's "Dead Men Tell No Tales" became the series' lowest-grossing entry at $795.9 million worldwide.
Even with that decline, the five-film "Pirates" series has generated $4.5 billion globally, giving Disney a strong incentive to restart it with a new lead and Depp attached.