10 Movie Franchises That Started Great And Then Fell Off A Cliff

2. Pirates of the Caribbean

Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Men Tell no Tales
Disney

The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise had become so universally popular that fifth entry Dead Men Tell No Tales was viewed as a major box office disappointment after 'only' earning $795m globally, although it at least kept up the swashbuckling series' track record for each new movie being worse than the last.

Curse of the Black Pearl turned independent cinema's darling Johnny Depp into an A-list star, landed him the first Academy Award nomination of his career, instantly established Captain Jack Sparrow as both a cultural and cinematic icon, and it still holds up as one of the most purely enjoyable blockbusters of the 21st Century.

From there, the world got bigger and bigger as mythology, plot twists, backstories and characters kept getting piled on until the narrative reached breaking point, and despite bringing so many new faces into the mix and expanding the world of the pirates, nobody seemed to care about anybody other than Captain Jack.

More CGI is never an acceptable substitute for a subpar story that became increasingly incomprehensible with every entry, and with two new Pirates of the Caribbean movies now in the works, let's hope that Disney are aiming for a fresh start instead.

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