Can ‘Pirates’ Series Remain Convoluted With Less Writers?

Dead men tell no tales… and screenwriters who quit their movie franchises don’t write any tales either.

Pirates of the Caribbean 4 has not come out yet, but Disney is already planning the sequels. That makes sense, because the movies have grossed an assload of booty at $2.68 billion worldwide. Development is starting on Pirates of the Caribbean 5, which will be filmed simultaneously with Pirates of the Caribbean 6 and maybe Pirates of the Caribbean 7: Curse of the Treasure of the Incredible Box Office Tallies! However, the series is losing one of the two writers who has been at the helm of every film since the beginning.

Disney made a deal with Pirates writer Terry Rossio (Shrek), but not his longtime collabo-writer Ted Elliott (also Shrek). We don’t know yet why he decided to voluntarily walk the plank, but our guess is the novelty of watching Johnny Depp do a gay Keith Richards impression wears off after about… oh, I don’t know, a decade. (TheWrap)