A smaller Pirates 4 budget is still a huge budget

The Pirates of The Caribbean franchise has done nothing but rake in millions of dollars for Disney but its previous success isn’t good enough to grant its sequel a financial pass. It’s no secret that the economy is in the crapper and a lot of companies are tightening their budgets, including Disney. According a recent article in the LA Times, the studio has set a limit on how much they’re willing to spend on Jack Sparrow and his next adventure.

Under Disney’s new Chairman Rich Ross, the studio will exercise some “fiscal restraint,” when it comes to the Jerry Bruckheimer blockbuster. Even though the desire for popcorn movies and escapist films hasn’t changed, DVD sales, marketing, and production costs have. The previous Pirates films cost about $300 million to make while On Stranger Tides is expected to stay near $200 million. So even though theatrically the films are turning a profit, they still have to compensate for the areas that are failing.

According to director Rob Marshall, “This is by far the biggest budget I’ve ever worked with. We’re all working hard to keep it as lean as possible…. It’s a tricky time in the economy. You can’t be insane.”

The Pirates of The Caribbean franchise has done nothing but rake in millions of dollars for Disney but its previous success isn’t good enough to grant its sequel a financial pass. It’s no secret that the economy is in the crapper and a lot of companies are tightening their budgets, including Disney. According a recent article in the LA Times, the studio has set a limit on how much they’re willing to spend on Jack Sparrow and his next adventure.

Under Disney’s new Chairman Rich Ross, the studio will exercise some “fiscal restraint,” when it comes to the Jerry Bruckheimer blockbuster. Even though the desire for popcorn movies and escapist films hasn’t changed, DVD sales, marketing, and production costs have. The previous Pirates films cost about $300 million to make while On Stranger Tides is expected to stay near $200 million. So even though theatrically the films are turning a profit, they still have to compensate for the areas that are failing.

According to director Rob Marshall, “This is by far the biggest budget I’ve ever worked with. We’re all working hard to keep it as lean as possible…. It’s a tricky time in the economy. You can’t be insane.”

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$200 million is not a small budget. It just means that Gore and Jerry let the previous Pirates movies get out of hand with their budgets, and I don't think it was used super well. I hope that Ted and Terry (the writers) can write better action to spend the budget on instead of... weirdness like Pirates 2 and especially 3.

Rob (the director of Pirates 4) also has a good point above. $200 million is still a huge budget, and far bigger than anything Rob's had before. Previously Rob did Chicago and Memoirs of a Geisha, so this is Rob's first attempt at a blockbuster (although Chicago was a blockbuster by accident). That's nothing against Rob though. He's an amazing director and more than qualified. Before Pirates 1-3, Gore (the director) was the director of Mouse Hunt, The Mexican, and The Ring.

So Jerry has a good process of finding great directors, even if they haven't done blockbusters. Perhaps great directors of other genres would make better directors of blockbusters than directors of "okay action flicks." So keep the system going Jerry, you've got a great one!

- TAE