Pirates of the Caribbean (film series)

Pirates of the Caribbean
Directed by	Gore Verbinski (1–3) Rob Marshall (4) Joachim Rønning (5) Espen Sandberg (5)
Screenplay by	Ted Elliott (1–4) Terry Rossio (1–4) Jeff Nathanson (5)
Story by	Ted Elliott (1–4) Terry Rossio (1–5) Stuart Beattie (1) Jay Wolpert (1) Jeff Nathanson (5)
Based on	Walt Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean On Stranger Tides by Tim Powers (4)
Produced by	Jerry Bruckheimer
Starring	Johnny Depp (1–5) Geoffrey Rush (1–5) Kevin McNally (1–5) Orlando Bloom (1–3, 5) Keira Knightley (1–3, 5) (See below)
Music by	Klaus Badelt (1) Hans Zimmer (2–4) Geoff Zanelli (5)
Production companies	Walt Disney Pictures Jerry Bruckheimer Films
Distributed by	Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Running time	726 minutes (1–5)
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	Total (5 films): $1.274–1.364 billion
Box office	Total (5 films): $4.524 billion

Pirates of the Caribbean is an American fantasy supernatural swashbuckler film series produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and based on Walt Disney's theme park attraction of the same name. The film series serves as a major component of the titular media franchise. Based on a fictionalized version of the Golden Age of Piracy (c. 1650–1726), the films' plots are set primarily in the Caribbean.

Directors of the series include Gore Verbinski (films 1–3), Rob Marshall (4), Joachim Rønning (5), and Espen Sandberg (5). The series is primarily written by Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio (1–4); other writers include Stuart Beattie (1), Jay Wolpert (1) and Jeff Nathanson (5).

The stories follow the adventures of Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp), with Hector Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) and Joshamee Gibbs (Kevin McNally) over the course of the films. Other characters featured in the original trilogy include Will Turner (Orlando Bloom), Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley), James Norrington (Jack Davenport), Governor Weatherby Swann (Jonathan Pryce), Pintel and Ragetti (Lee Arenberg and Mackenzie Crook), Marty (Martin Klebba), Cotton (David Bailie), Murtogg and Mullroy (Giles New and Angus Barnett), Lieutenant Gillette (Damian O'Hare), Theodore Groves (Greg Ellis), Bootstrap Bill Turner (Stellan Skarsgård), Lord Cutler Beckett (Tom Hollander), Tia Dalma (Naomie Harris), Davy Jones (Bill Nighy), and Sao Feng (Chow Yun-Fat). Despite focusing more on Jack Sparrow among several of the aforementioned characters, the fourth and fifth films serve as standalone sequels. The fourth film features Angelica (Penélope Cruz), Blackbeard (Ian McShane), Philip Swift (Sam Claflin), Syrena (Àstrid Bergès-Frisbey), and Scrum (Stephen Graham). The fifth film features Armando Salazar (Javier Bardem), Henry Turner (Brenton Thwaites), and Carina Smyth (Kaya Scodelario).

The film series started in 2003 with Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, which had a positive reception from audiences and film critics. It grossed $654 million worldwide.^[1] After the first film's success, Walt Disney Pictures announced that a film series was in the works. The franchise's second film, subtitled Dead Man's Chest, was released in 2006 and broke financial records worldwide the day of its premiere. Dead Man's Chest became the top-grossing movie of 2006 with almost $1.1 billion at the worldwide box office. The third film in the series, subtitled At World's End, followed in 2007 earning $960 million. Disney released a fourth film, subtitled On Stranger Tides, in 2011 in conventional 2D, Digital 3-D and IMAX 3D. On Stranger Tides succeeded in also grossing more than $1 billion,^[1] becoming the second film in the franchise and only the eighth film in history to do this, at the time of release. A fifth film, subtitled Dead Men Tell No Tales, was released in 2017.

The franchise has grossed over $4.5 billion worldwide.^[1] It is the 16th-highest-grossing film series of all time, and is the first film franchise to produce two or more movies that grossed over $1 billion.