Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean franchise might be proudly rooted in the swashbuckling tradition of old-fashioned high seas adventures. But the man behind the series, uber-producer Jerry Bruckheimer, isn't averse to using modern day technology to boost levels of excitement.
Bruckheimer has tweeted the first image of Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales. The actor recently returned to the set in Australia following a hand injury that briefly suspended the production. The movie is the fifth in the staggeringly successful series, one that transformed Depp into a full-blown blockbuster movie star with his amusingly bumbling portrayal of the mascara-clad rapscallion.
Captain Jack is back and we're not letting him go. pic.twitter.com/m6VVRTyFQm
— JERRY BRUCKHEIMER (@BRUCKHEIMERJB) April 21, 2015
To date the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, based on Disney's enduringly popular theme park attraction, have grossed more than $3 billion at the global box office. The most recent, 2011's On Stranger Tides, took more than $1 billion on its own, according to figures from Box Office Mojo.
Dead Men Tell No Tales is directed by Norwegian duo Espen Sandberg and Joachim Ronning, who made Oscar nominated 2012 nautical adventure Kon-Tiki. Geoffrey Rush is also set to return as Captain Barbossa, alongside new faces Javier Bardem, Kaya Scodelario and Brenton Thwaites.
This time, Sparrow comes up against ghostly villain Captain Salazar (Bardem) who's intent on ridding the sea of all pirates. To stop him, Sparrow must recover the mysterious Trident of Poseidon, which bestows control over all the seas in the world.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales is released on 7th July 2017.
