10 Movies Nobody Wanted To Admit Were Actually Remakes
6. Prince Of Persia Is A New Curse Of The Black Pearl
After the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise had turned into a multi-billion dollar success, Disney were keen to try and recapture that magic any way possible, so they decided to re-team with producer Jerry Bruckheimer and transplant the formula to the suspiciously-Caucasian Middle East and hope for the same results.
The unsubtle similarities between the Pirates movies and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time extend far beyond having the plot's key MacGuffin as the subtitle. Jake Gyllenhaal's main character is a combination of both Jack Sparrow and Will Turner, following Depp's lead in having a dashing American leading man sport an English accent, while also taking cues from Orlando Bloom in making his performance as one-dimensional and forgettable as possible.
Gemma Arterton steps into Keira Knightley's shoes as the rising British star who is both capable heroine and token love interest at the same time, Ben Kingsley takes the Geoffrey Rush role as the critically-acclaimed veteran chewing as much scenery as humanly possible, while Toby Kebbell and Alfred Molina fill the void marked for respected character actors required to play thankless background parts in a plot full of double crosses and revelations.
Disney even hired Mike Newell fresh off the success of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire to provide a safe and experienced pair of hands for their latest CGI-fueled extravaganza, but any chance of Prince of Persia launching a franchise of its own was quickly lost to... you get it.