PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN 5 slows down for a 2016 release; Plot Details Revealed

Despite Disney's recent epic failure with The Lone Ranger, Pirates of the Caribbean 5, which is now titled PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES is still going to happen. But the studio has pulled the film from its original summer 2015 release date and has moved it to a possible 2016 release instead.  Kon-Tiki helmers Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg have been attached to direct for a few months now, but the reason for the delay apparently has to do with the shape of the script.  Rønning and Sandberg weren’t 100% happy with Jeff Nathanson’s outline for the material, and production was looking to get underway in March which meant the duo would have to prep shooting with only an outline to go by and not a finished script.  Nathanson is now working on a rewrite of the material, and the extra time will be devoted to making sure the script is in top shape and trying to bring the film’s budget down below $200 million.[hit the jump to continue]

While the behind-the-scenes details for Pirates 5 have been pretty clear, we still know nothing about the film’s plot.  That may now have changed, though, as a rundown for the story of Pirates of the Caribbean 5 has apparently gone online. 

The folks over at Bleeding Cool got their hands on an early draft of the script and have posted some supposed details, but given that Nathanson is working on a rewrite it’s unclear how much of this will make the finished film.  Nevertheless, here’s a rundown of what the story apparently entails:

- Witchcraft and witches play a very central role to the story.
- There’s a new female lead who will be a sparring partner for Jack Sparrow.  She is suspected of witchcraft but is actually a woman of science.
- There is also a ghost in a lead role, a former member of the British military who is now sided with Captain Barbossa.
- Two pretty young Brits from farming families play into a subplot, filling the Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley roles from the initial trilogy.
- The film begins with “a rather awkward wedding” and the climax involves the myth of the Bermuda Triangle.

Again, the script is very much in flux so it’s possible that the finished film will be very different from this rundown.  That being said, the ghost character appears to tie into the rumored subtitle of Dead Men Tell No Tales, so it’ll be interesting to see how much of this turns out to be true.  Production will now begin a little later next year, but we should expect to start hearing some casting news closer to the holidays or after the New Year.