Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Article about the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise

Jim Hill has written this interesting article relating to the POTC franchise, the merchandise, and the further sequel possibilities:
http://jimhillmedia.com/blogs/jim_hill/archive/2006/05/31/2652.aspx


I must say, I personally wouldn't believe that Johnny Depp is interested in doing a fourth POTC movie. But maybe money might be such a big factor that it would lure Depp to do it. Considering Depp's importance to the franchise, he could probably ensure a big % of the profits the movies make, giving him a chance to make huge amount of money. And we are not talking about just a "regular" 20-25 million paycheck here. Depending on what his actual cut is, Depp might earn more than 100 million dollars from the profits of the two POTC sequels. Like Hill has written, rumours have speculated that the combined production and marketing budget for the movies would be even as high as 600 million dollars, which shows that Disney is doing everything it can to build this into a mega franchise. Considering this, it wouldn't be surprising if they would give Depp pretty much everything to come back for even a fourth and fifth movie.

Because face it, it is Johnny Depp who IS the franchise. If you took him away, the movies would lose the majority of their appeal. The (un)-charisma of Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley wouldn't be enough to support the franchise. So, it is Captain Jack that they need.

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Meet Jack Sparrow (in Disneyland)

Our forum is now open here: http://www.indeppth.com/forum/index.php

Right from the forum comes an interesting look at a few theme park related issues concerning Pirates of the Caribbean. Thanks for worldwide renowned Depptologist 'The Collector' for this!

"Disney is updating the PotC rides in both Disney Land and Walt Disney World for the release of the second movie this summer. They completed Phase 1 last month, which mostly entailed refurbishing various audio-animatronics (I noticed that the dog in the jail scene, for instance, had had all its fur replaced). They reopened the ride briefly for the Spring Break rush, and closed it again on May 1st to start Phase 2, which will bring about much larger changes. Eavesdropping in the Mouseketeeria (the sad thing is that I didn't make that up--that's really the name of the employee cafeteria under Fantasyland) has led me to understand that they have drained the entire ride for this stage.

According to the various announcements, the ride will remain closed through July 6. According to these same announcements, the new story of the ride will be Jack and Barbossa "racing to be the first ones to the treasure"--though I doubt this information due to the fact that a press release months ago said that it would be about Jack hiding from angry pirates who want to...I dunno, kill him or something. On characters from the new movie all it says is "Davey Jones will also be making an appearance." It goes on to say something about how "new characters will only be the beginning" and they're adding a bunch of new effects. No idea what those are. I know that they're adding some new scenery somewhere, because I saw the rebar frames for it out back next to the production center. Couldn't figure out what they were frames for, though, since at that stage it's a bit hard to see what the shapes make if you don't already know. They're keeping the ride's giftshop open all this time, but who didn't see that one coming?

Jack Sparrow is also going to be a meet-and-greet character starting in July, and will be found near the ride. His height range is 5'9"-6'0", and they have already picked the first guys who will play him."

Friday, May 05, 2006

Shantram article

Here is a small news article relating to Shantram, Depp's next movie:
http://www.ibnlive.com/news/shantaram-moves-into-big-screen/9205-8.html

Looks quite interesting, Peter Weir will be another great director Johnny Depp has the chance to work with. For me, the best Weir movie to date is the dreamlike 'Picnic at the Hanging Rock' from 1975, check it out if you can.

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Welcome to the InDeppth NewsBlog!

Welcome, friends.

Indeppth.com website will be operational within the next month or two. The forum should be opened soon, and the News Blog is now here. You can come here to find out the latest news relating to Johnny Depp, and to discuss these news items with other Depptologists.

As a treat, the newest trailer for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Mans Chest has just been released. AICN has a link for it: http://www.aintitcoolnews.com/display.cgi?id=23186 (if the one listed does not work, there are some additional links to it in the Talkback)

Enjoy!