Blockbuster producer Jerry Bruckheimer is being given a smaller budget for the next Pirates, only $200 million. That is nearly a third less that the last one. Due to “the deterioration of the lucrative DVD business, amid upward-spiraling production and marketing expenses” many big productions are being cut back, the LA Times reports.
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides marks his astounding 26th film for Disney in 16 years and will include “far fewer shooting days and visual effects shots” in order to accommodate the budget.
Screenwriters Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio were even told that Johnny Depp’s character “would spend more time on land than water because of the high cost of shooting on the high seas.” Sounds like a solid script, eh? Not only is Bruckheimer going through the script line by line trying to cut costs, they are even incorporating more cost effect methods:
To save more money, the number and selection of filming locations changed. Whereas the prior installments were shot in the Caribbean and Los Angeles, the upcoming production will be filmed primarily in Hawaii and London, where tax credits are more favorable. The number of shooting days scheduled is 90 to 95, down from 142 on the last movie. Similarly, there are expected to be 1,300 to 1,400 visual effects shots, compared with 2,000.
Also gone is an ice fair on a frozen river and an “elaborate carriage chase.” I hope to god they learn from the last film and just cut the running time down and tighten the script. There was so much superfluous bullshit in the last one I nearly ran out of theater and have yet to revisit any film in the series. With a talented director and a very solid cast I’m looking forward to this one though.
Are you upset that we won’t be seeing an extremely lavish Pirates?