The trailer to Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, which is the fourth movie in the franchise, is out and it looks pretty solid. The movie is based on a superlative novel called (surprise!) On Stranger Tides
, by Tim Powers. If the movie hews close to the book, then it will likely be the best of the franchise. I can’t imagine why it wouldn’t. OST is packed full of pirates and zombies and chase scenes, which is pretty much the dead-center of the PotC franchise. They writers will have to tinker with the main character a bit to fit him into the Jack Sparrow mold, but I don’t think that’ll matter much.
We’ll get back Johnny Depp and Geoffrey Rush, but won’t have Orlando Bloom or Keira Knightley. Instead, we’ll get Penelope Cruz, Ian McShane (as Blackbeard), and Keith Richards (as, I don’t know, an older Johnny Depp?). As much as I liked the chemistry in the Depp/Knightley/Bloom triangle, it was time for the latter two to move on and have their own stories (and it wouldn’t shock me to see them show up in a pirate flick of their own).
By the way, don’t take my post title as an implication that I’m tired of zombie pirate movies. I’m not. I could use a few more. Also ninjas.
UPDATE: Aaron Williams wonders if this might begin a trend of gobbling up novels to keep movie franchises alive.
Tags: Movie Trailers
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Keith Richards and Johnny Depp play father and son, so you're not far off.
I suppose that was inevitable casting, wasn't it?
It's a carryover from the last POTC movie, in which Richards played Depp's father.
I think Die Hard 2 was based on a novel titled "58 Minutes," so it's not unprecedented.
I'm neither here nor there on the practice, though I do think it could inject better stories into "franchise" movies. As I recall, "Die Hard" was also based on a novel as well, though I can't recall which one.