I went to see Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest the other day, and I really enjoyed it, although a lot of it is action for action’s sake as well as set-up for the third movie. You can check out my full review of movie HERE.

Nowadays, when a movie is a hit, the studios immediately sign on for two more high-budget installments. The sequels of this decade are not what they were 20 years ago. Just take a look at the Spider-Man or The Matrix, and now Pirates, franchises. Now, the big-name stars return; no lookalike unknowns (that’s right, I’m talking to you, Mannequin 2: On the Move). Big names and bigger budgets mean big payoffs at the box office.

I’m actually happy that the Pirates franchise is doing so well (so well, in fact, that Chest beat Spider-Man’s record for the highest opening in box-office history with an estimated $132 million). I hope this means my 1 share of Disney stock will rise!

Disney took a big chance recently when they closed their ever-popular Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disney World for a 4-month major renovation in order to incorporate elements from the movie into the attraction — most notably, the inclusion of the pirate Captain Jack Sparrow, immortalized on film by Johnny Depp.

Check out THIS video of Depp experiencing the revamped attraction and coming face-to-face with the amazingly life-like animatronic Jack Sparrow. (Photo at right is from the moment as seen in the video.) You can also read THIS review of the updated Pirates ride.

Listen to this podcast

This entry was posted on Monday, July 10th, 2006 at 12:50 pm and is filed under movies, Disney. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.