Taglines: Prepare to be blown out of the water.
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl follows the quest of Captain Jack Sparrow, a savvy pirate, and Will Turner, a resourceful blacksmith, as they search for Elizabeth Swann. Elizabeth, the daughter of the governor and the love of Will’s life, has been kidnapped by the feared Captain Barbossa. Little do they know, but the fierce and clever Barbossa has been cursed. He, along with his large crew, are under an ancient curse, doomed for eternity to neither live, nor die. That is, unless a blood sacrifice is made.
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl is an American fantasy swashbuckler film based on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disney theme parks. It was directed by Gore Verbinski and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. The story follows pirate Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) and blacksmith Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) as they rescue the kidnapped Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) from the cursed crew of the Black Pearl, captained by Hector Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush), who become undead skeletons at night.
Jay Wolpert developed a script based on the theme park ride in 2001, and Stuart Beattie rewrote it in early 2002. Around that time, producer Jerry Bruckheimer became involved in the project; he had Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio work on the script, adding the supernatural curse to the storyline. Filming took place from October 2002 to March 2003 in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and on sets constructed around Los Angeles, California.
Before its release, many journalists expected Pirates of the Caribbean to be a flop. The pirate genre had not been successful for years, with Cutthroat Island (1995) being a notable flop. The film was also based on a theme park ride, and Depp, known mostly for starring in cult films at the time, had little track record as a box office leading man.
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl opened at #1, grossing $46,630,690 in its opening weekend and $70,625,971 since its Wednesday launch. It eventually made its way to $654,264,015 worldwide ($305,413,918 domestically and $348,850,097 overseas), becoming the fourth-highest-grossing film of 2003. Box Office Mojo estimates that the film sold over 50.64 million tickets in the US.
Overseas, it dominated for seven consecutive weekends at the box office, tying the record of Men in Black II at the time. Only three movies after that broke the record; its sequel, Dead Man’s Chest, (with nine consecutive #1 weekends and ten in total),[40] Avatar (with 11 consecutive #1 weekends) and The Smurfs (with eight consecutive #1 weekends). It is currently the 71st-highest-grossing film of all time.
About the Story
Sailing to Port Royal, Governor Weatherby Swann, his daughter Elizabeth, and Lieutenant James Norrington encounter a burning shipwreck and recover a young boy Will Turner. Elizabeth hides a golden medallion owned by Will, and sees a ghost ship vanishing into the fog. Eight years on, Norrington is promoted to the rank of Commodore and proposes to Elizabeth, but her tight corset causes her to faint and fall into the sea. She is rescued by Captain Jack Sparrow, who Norrington identifies as a pirate who intends on commandeering a ship. Jack attempts to escape but runs into Will, now a blacksmith and a talented swordsman. They engage in a sword fight but Jack is captured by Norrington’s men and imprisoned.
That night, the Black Pearl, the ship Elizabeth saw as a child, assaults Port Royal in search of the medallion. Two pirates, Pintel and Ragetti, escort Elizabeth to meet Captain Barbossa to negotiate parley. Elizabeth pretends to be called “Elizabeth Turner”, but while Barbossa stops the attack he takes her prisoner. Barbossa reveals to Elizabeth that his crew are cursed to be immortal after taking the Aztec treasure of Cortez from Isla de Muerta, appearing as skeletons when out in moonlight. In order to free themselves, the crew gathered every gold piece and gave blood sacrifices, but still need the last piece and Elizabeth’s blood to complete it.
Will frees Jack from prison to rescue Elizabeth, Jack agreeing to when he learns Will’s last name. They commandeer the HMS Interceptor and recruit a motley crew from Tortuga, including Jack’s friend Joshamee Gibbs. Jack reveals that Will’s father, Bootstrap Bill, was a pirate. Will learns that Jack was formerly captain of the Black Pearl until Barbossa mutinied and marooned him on an island, leaving him with a pistol with a single shot that Jack never used, intending to shoot Barbossa. Arriving at Isla de Muerta, Will and Jack observe Barbossa trying to commence the blood ritual but finds Elizabeth is not the child of Bootstrap Bill. Will spirits Elizabeth away to the Interceptor, while Jack reunites with his former crew and is locked in the Pearl’s brig.
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
Directed by: Gore Verbinski
Starring: Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley, Jack Davenport, Jonathan Pryce, Lee Arenberg, Mackenzie Crook, Damian O’Hare, David Bailie
Screenplay by: Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio
Production Design by: Brian Morris
Cinematography by: Dariusz Wolski
Film Editing by: Stephen E. Rivkin, Arthur Schmidt, Craig Wood
Costume Design by: Penny Rose
Set Decoration by: Larry Dias
Music by: Klaus Badelt
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for action / adventure violence.
Distributed by: Buena Vista Pictures
Release Date: July 9, 2003
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