Pirates of the Caribbean (film series)

Pirates of the Caribbean is an American film series produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and based on Disney's theme park attraction. The film series serves as a major component of the Pirates of the Caribbean media franchise. The films are set primarily in the Caribbean, based on a fictionalized version of the Golden Age of Piracy (c. 1650–1726) while also leading to the range of a mid-1700s setting. 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 (1–4) and Terry Rossio (1–5); 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 various other characters, including Jack's former first mate Hector Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) and first mate Joshamee Gibbs (Kevin McNally), over the course of the films. 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. 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 billion at the worldwide box office. The third film in the series, subtitled At World's End, followed in 2007 earning $962 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, 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 earning $796 million. The franchise has grossed over $4 billion worldwide. It is the 17th-highest-grossing film series of all time, and is the first film franchise to produce two or more films that grossed over $1 billion.