Johnny Depp returns as Captain Jack Sparrow this Memorial Day weekend in “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales”. Here are 5 franchise facts you should know before seeing installment No. 5:
1.) Depp won the Best Actor Screen Actors Guild Award for his performance in the ’03 original “The Curse of the Black Pearl”. He was also nominated for the Oscar, but lost to Sean Penn for “Mystic River”. Depp is the last male actor to be Oscar-nominated for a performance in a Walt Disney Pictures movie. Meryl Streep (“Into the Woods”) is the most recent female actor.
2.) When released in July 2006, “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” had the biggest U.S. opening weekend of all-time with $135 million. The film was also Disney’s highest-grossing movie of all-time from ’06 to 2012, with that title taken over by “Marvel’s The Avengers”.
3.) 2007’s “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” is 2 hours and 49 minutes. Depp doesn’t appear in the entire first half hour, which frustrated some critics and fans.
4.) Gore Verbinski, who directed the original trilogy, opted out of 2011’s fourth chapter “On Stranger Tides”, instead directing the animated film “Rango”, which also starred Depp. “Rango” won the Best Animated Feature Oscar.
5.) “Stranger” is the most expensive movie ever made, costing a reported $410.6 million ($378.5 million after tax rebate), according to Forbes. It grossed $1,045.7 billion worldwide (Box Office Mojo). The budget of “Dead Men Tell No Tales” is reportedly around $320 million. (Cinemablend)
BONUS: None of the installments in the series are rated ARRRRGH!