‘Pirates of the Caribbean 5’ May Begin Filming in Australia in Early 2015

‘Pirates of the Caribbean 5’ May Begin Filming in Australia in Early 2015

Pirates of the Caribbean 5, which directors Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg (Kon-Tiki) previously said will have the subtitle Dead Men Tell No Tales, secured an official Summer 2017 release date last month. Prior to that, Pirates franchise producer Jerry Bruckheimer was forecasting an early 2015 start date for production on Captain Jack Sparrow’s (Johnny Depp) latest adventure – and, according to a fresh update on the project, that still looks to be the plan.

Inside Film is reporting that Walt Disney Pictures is in the midst of negotiations with Australia’s government to receive a 30% incentive to shoot a “big budget feature” in the country, beginning around the early part of 2015. Currently, the signs point to Pirates of the Caribbean 5 being the blockbuster in question.

Previously, Australia’s government offered the Mouse House a $21.6 million incentive to shoot a 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea remake in the country, but that project no longer has David Fincher lined up as director – and is, for all intents and purposes, dead until further notice. Disney, it seems, wants that same money applied to the fifth Pirates of the Caribbean movie, and then bumped even higher, to help cover the swashbuckling tenptole’s hefty cost (one that has reportedly already been streamlined in response to The Lone Ranger‘s under-performance at the box office).

(Sidenote: THR is reporting that 20,000 Leagues is, in fact, the Disney project being eyed to begin shooting in 2015, but IF‘s article does not support this. Furthermore, the THR article includes a quote from the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA), which says that it understands the incentive “originally reserved for 20,000 Leagues to be reallocated to this new production” – which, again suggests that 20,000 Leagues is not the film in question.)

‘Pirates of the Caribbean 5’ May Begin Filming in Australia in Early 2015

Depp will be back as Captain Jack, while Geoffrey Rush is also lined up to return as (Hector) Barbossa in the fifth Pirates of the Caribbean feature. There’s also the long-standing rumor that Christoph Waltz will portray the main antagonist of the film, in addition to talk of Rebecca Hall (Iron Man 3Transcendence) playing an astronomer whose knowledge results in her being accused of witchcraft. Mind you, the story/script by Jeff Nathanson (Rush Hour 2 & 3, Tower Heist) may also include actual witches.

The fifth Pirates of the Caribbean movie will have a pair of up-and-coming directors (from outside the studio system) calling the shots, based on Nathanson’s script – but can they bring fresh creativity to this very profitable, yet increasingly tired Disney ride-turned movie blockbuster property? Feel free to let us know what you think, in the comments section of this article.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales arrives on July 7th, 2017.