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Pirates Of The Caribbean Reboot May No Longer Be Moving Forward

Deadpool scribes Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese have exited Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean reboot, leaving the project in limbo, Deadline reports. According to insiders, the studio is split on charting the course ahead: some say the search is on for new writers while others say the project may be shelved entirely, ending the franchise with 2017’s Dead Men Tell No Tales. Disney film production chief Sean Bailey has pushed for the Pirates relaunch to better compete with its in-house competition: the Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, and Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios branches. Bailey previously said Wernick and Reese were going to “make Pirates punk rock again” and give the near 20-year-old brand, inspired by the famed Disneyland ride of the same name, a “kick in the pants.” The confirmed ousting of star Johnny Depp, who has long anchored the franchise as wily pirate Captain Jack Sparrow, was to introduce a “new energy and vitality,” Bailey said in December.