Pirates of the caribbean: at world's end - Disney

ABOUT THE PRODUCTION
the Friday totals of $55.5 million set
a new mark for the biggest one-day
numbers ever…that by Saturday, its
$100.2 million take was the biggest
ever two-day gross, which meant that
“Dead Man’s Chest” was the first
movie in history to break the sacred
$100 million mark in 48 hours. By
this point, the film had taken on
major event status, as evidenced by
the legion of “Pirates” fans,
sweeping across the demographic
board, who lined up for hours, many
sporting an array of buccaneer gear,
some so comprehensively attired from head to toe that it looked as if they stepped right off the set.
By the end of its second weekend, “Dead Man’s Chest” had passed $200 million on its eighth day of
release—another record sent crashing to the ground—and amassed $258.2 million in only 10 days, with
an additional $125 million in 24 countries outside of the U.S. and Canada. Any lingering doubts about the
Pirates’ sea “legs” were laid to rest after the third weekend of “Dead Man’s Chest,” in which the film
soared past four major new releases and became the fastest film in history to pass the $300 million mark
in the U.S. and Canada (and broke “The Curse of the Black Pearl’s” $305 million milepost). And overseas,
opening in 11 new markets, it was the same story over and over again. Number one everywhere. Long
queues from Tokyo to Mumbai to Warsaw, and back again. By September 2006, “Dead Man’s Chest”
became only the third member of the billion-dollar club and became the third highest-grossing film,
internationally, in motion picture history. The public had spoken, and very loudly too, across the entire
world. The film was also honored with four Academy Award ® nominations, winning the Best Visual
Effects prize for John Knoll, Charles Gibson, Hal Hickel and Allen Hall.
The filmmakers all knew that audiences, although having been thrilled by the first two films, would
obviously be seeking the “Astonish me” factor in the third. And they were fully prepared to reward their
expectations. “We wanted to tell a story which would be an epic struggle between freedom and
conformity,” says executive producer Mike Stenson. “A fundamental question of the movie is, why are we
supposed to like pirates? It really does come back to the sense that when you’re growing up, you want to
be a pirate…you want to do something that’s about freedom, no rules, not dealing with authority. As we
go through our lives, we have to deal with more and more issues of dealing with authority and
conformity…but that doesn’t mean that on a Friday night you don’t want to leave the suit and tie behind
and spend a couple of hours of experiencing that darker, more swashbuckling and independent version of
yourself. Which is what I think elicits people’s passions for these movies.”
“The first movie wasn’t even on the top ten preview list for the summer,” adds executive producer Chad
Oman of Jerry Bruckheimer Films. “Then ‘Dead Man’s Chest’ did double what we hoped, which was
pretty amazing. The problem is that after the celebrations came the realization that we had to really deliver
the goods for AT WORLD’S END.”
“In a way, the most satisfying aspect of ‘Pirates’ is that it has become this kind of cultural phenomenon
that audiences have embraced so passionately,” says executive producer Bruce Hendricks. “You’ve got to
give Jerry, Gore, Ted and Terry, and Johnny and the cast credit for that. This has forever changed the
approach to the pirate genre, which was basically dead. It’s now been re-invented, whether or not we make
more pirate movies, or someone else does, there’s a different way of looking at pirates now.”
In the aftermath of the “Dead Man’s Chest” sweep of worldwide box offices, the stars of the film were
still processing its impact. “It’s shocking, you know,” admits Johnny Depp. “I’m still sort of amazed that
so many people in so many corners of the globe embraced the films and Captain Jack, and in a lot of ways
just sort of claimed ownership of the character. Nothing like this has ever happened to me, but what’s
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