Pirates of the Caribbean fans are calling "mutiny" over two separate Pirates projects that appear to be setting sail without Johnny Depp's franchise favorite Captain Jack Sparrow, including an already announced reboot and a female-fronted version starring Margot Robbie. Both projects are in development at Disney with series producer Jerry Bruckheimer, who teamed with Depp for all five franchise entries released between 2003 and 2017. Depp's savvy pirate appeared opposite Orlando Bloom's Will Turner and Keira Knightley's Elizabeth Swann in a Gore Verbinski-directed trilogy before reprising the role in two Sparrow-centric sequels, On Stranger Tides and Dead Men Tell No Tales.
"It's simple," reads one popular tweet, "if the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie has no Captain Jack Sparrow, no Johnny Depp, I'm not watching it."
Another Twitter user shared a similar sentiment, writing, "I'm not against Margot Robbie starring in a Pirates Of The Caribbean movie. I just think she should be starring along side Johnny Depp who made the franchise what it is."
Collectively, the five-film franchise inspired by Walt Disney's classic theme park attraction has grossed more than $4.5 billion in box office receipts since The Curse of the Black Pearl in 2003. Depp's role as the drunken but cunning swashbuckler earned him his first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor, and his popular character was inserted into the original Disneyland ride in a 2006 refurbishment.
The Pirates movie in development with Robbie attached to star reunites the Harley Quinn actress with screenwriter Christina Hodson, who penned DC Comics vehicle Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey for Robbie. Disney earlier set a reboot with Chernobyl creator Craig Mazin and Ted Elliott, who scripted the franchise's first four films with writing partner Terry Rossio.