| Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End |
|
|---|---|
Promotional poster |
|
| Directed by | Gore Verbinski |
| Produced by | Jerry Bruckheimer |
| Written by | Ted Elliott Terry Rossio |
| Based on | Characters by Ted Elliott Terry Rossio Stuart Beattie Jay Wolpert |
| Starring | Orlando Bloom Johnny Depp Keira Knightley Stellan Skarsgård Bill Nighy Chow Yun-fat Geoffrey Rush Jack Davenport Naomie Harris Kevin McNally Tom Hollander David Schofield Jonathan Pryce Mackenzie Crook Lee Arenberg Keith Richards |
| Music by | Hans Zimmer |
| Cinematography | Dariusz Wolski |
| Editing by | Stephen E. Rivkin Craig Wood |
| Studio | Jerry Bruckheimer Films |
| Distributed by | Walt Disney Pictures |
| Release date(s) | May 25, 2007 |
| Running time | 169 minutes |
| Country | United States United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $300 million[1] |
| Box office | $963,420,425[1] |
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End is a 2007 American adventure fantasy film, the third film in the Pirates of the Caribbean series. The plot follows Will Turner, Elizabeth Swann, and the crew of the Black Pearl rescuing Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp), from Davy Jones's Locker, and then preparing to fight the East India Trading Company, led by Cutler Beckett (Tom Hollander) and Davy Jones (Bill Nighy), who plan to extinguish piracy. Gore Verbinski directed the film, as he did with the previous two. It was shot in two shoots during 2005 and 2006, the former simultaneously with the preceding film, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.
The film was released in English-speaking countries on May 25, 2007 after Disney decided to move the release date a day earlier than originally planned. Critical reviews were mixed, but At World's End was a box office hit, becoming the most successful film of 2007, grossing over $960 million worldwide, and making it the third most successful in the series, behind On Stranger Tides and Dead Man's Chest.
It was nominated for the Academy Award for Makeup and the Academy Award for Visual Effects, which it lost to La Vie en Rose and The Golden Compass, respectively. It remains the most expensive film ever made, with a budget of $300 million. A fourth installment, On Stranger Tides, was released in theaters on May 20, 2011.
Contents |
To control the oceans, Lord Cutler Beckett (Tom Hollander) executes anyone associated with piracy and uses Davy Jones (Bill Nighy), with Jones' heart in his hands, to destroy all pirate ships on the seas. Condemned prisoners sing "Hoist the Colours" to compel the nine pirate lords comprising the Brethren Court to convene at Shipwreck Cove; however, the late Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp), pirate lord of the Caribbean, never appointed a successor. Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) leads Will (Orlando Bloom), Elizabeth (Keira Knightley), Tia Dalma (Naomie Harris), and the crew of the Black Pearl to rescue Jack from Davy Jones's Locker. Sao Feng (Chow Yun-fat), pirate lord of the South China Sea, possesses a map to the Locker, where Jack is imprisoned. Will bargains with Feng for the Pearl in exchange for Sparrow, so Will can rescue his father from Davy Jones' ship, The Flying Dutchman.
The crew journeys into the Locker and retrieves Sparrow. As the Pearl seeks an escape route, dead souls float past, including Elizabeth's father Weatherby Swann (Jonathan Pryce), who was murdered by Beckett. Tia Dalma reveals that Davy Jones was appointed by Calypso, his lover and Goddess of the Sea, to ferry the dead to the next world; in return, Jones was allowed to step upon land for one day every ten years to be with his love. When she failed to meet him, he abandoned his duty and transformed into a monster.
After returning to the living world, the Pearl is ambushed by Sao Feng, who reveals his agreement with Will. Feng betrays Will, handing over the crew to Beckett in exchange for the Pearl. Beckett takes Sparrow aboard his vessel, the Endeavour, although Jack refuses to divulge where the Brethren Court will convene. Instead, Jack offers to lure the Court out in exchange for Beckett protecting him from Jones. Feng bargains with Barbossa to release the Pearl in exchange for Elizabeth, who he believes is Calypso trapped in human form. Feng's ship attacks the Endeavour, allowing Jack to escape. Feng tells Elizabeth that the first Brethren Court trapped Calypso in human form so men could rule the seas. When Davy Jones attacks Feng's ship, the mortally wounded Feng appoints Elizabeth as his successor, and she and the crew are imprisoned in the Flying Dutchman's brig. Bootstrap Bill Turner (Stellan Skarsgård) reveals to Elizabeth that the person who stabs Davy Jones' heart becomes the next captain of the Flying Dutchman. Admiral James Norrington (Jack Davenport) frees Elizabeth and her crew. They escape to their ship, but Norrington is killed by a crazed Bootstrap Bill.
Will leaves a trail of corpses for Beckett's ship to follow. Jack catches Will, and they discuss Davy Jones' heart. Jack suggests he stab the heart to solve Will's conflicting obligations (freeing his father and Elizabeth), then tosses Will overboard after giving him his compass so Beckett can find Shipwreck Cove. Will is rescued by Beckett, and Davy Jones reveals that he masterminded Calypso's imprisonment. At Shipwreck Cove, the pirate lords present their nine "pieces of eight", but disagree over freeing Calypso. Barbossa calls upon Captain Teague (Keith Richards), Jack's father and Keeper of the Pirate's Code, to confirm that only a Pirate King can declare war. Elizabeth is elected King after Sparrow's vote for her breaks a stalemate, and she orders the pirates to war. During a parley with Beckett and Jones, Elizabeth swaps Sparrow for Will after realizing Jack and Will plan to have Jack stab the heart; swapping Jack places him on the Dutchman with the heart.
In the meantime, Barbossa steals Jack's "piece of eight" and uses it and its counterparts to free Calypso, who was bound as Tia Dalma. Will discloses that Davy Jones betrayed her to the Brethren Court, and Calypso's fury over this revelation unleashes a maelstrom, in which the Dutchman and the Pearl battle. Sparrow escapes the Dutchman's brig and steals the Dead Man's Chest. Will proposes to Elizabeth, and Captain Barbossa marries them in the midst of battle. Will boards the Dutchman to retrieve the chest, but is mortally wounded by Jones. Sparrow places his sword in Will's hand and helps Will stab Jones's heart before he dies, and after seeing what Will has done, Jones falls overboard into the maelstrom. Will, mortally wounded, dies in Elizabeth's arms. Jack tries to convice Elizabeth to leave the Flying Dutchman, and Bootstrap Bill crowns Will new captain of the Dutchman and it sinks in the maelstrom. While Elizabeth mourns the loss of Will, Beckett moves to attack the Pearl, but the Dutchman resurfaces with Will as the captain and the crew now returned to their human forms. The Dutchman and the Pearl destroy the Endeavour, killing Beckett, and the surviving armada retreats.
Will is bound to sail the sea as The Flying Dutchman's captain. Elizabeth bids Jack, Barbossa, and the crew farewell before Will and Elizabeth have one day together. He departs after giving Elizabeth the Dead Man's Chest. Barbossa commandeers the Pearl, stranding Jack and Gibbs in Tortuga, in order to find the Fountain of Youth with the crew, only to discover Jack cut out the middle of the map leading to the fountain, which contains the most vital directions. Meanwhile, Jack sails from Tortuga in a small boat to find the Fountain of Youth.
In a post-credits scene set ten years later, Elizabeth and her son watch from a seacliff as the Flying Dutchman appears with Will Turner aboard.[2]
"I felt it important that the third film was the end of an era — like in a postmodern western where the railroad comes and the gunfighter is extinct. It seemed that we had an opportunity to take a look at a world where the legitimate has become corrupt and there is no place for honest thieves in that society, so you have darker issues and a little melancholy. The myths are dying. That seemed a great theme with which to complete the trilogy."
Following Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl's success in 2003, the cast and crew signed on for two sequels to be shot back-to-back.[14] For the third film, director Gore Verbinski wanted to return the tone to that of a character piece after using the second film to keep the plot moving.[6] Inspired by the real-life confederation of pirates, Elliott and Rossio looked at historical figures and created fictional characters from them to expand the scope beyond the main cast.[15] Finally embellishing their mythology, Calypso was introduced, going full circle to Barbossa's mention of "heathen gods" that created the curse in the first film.[16]
Parts of the third film were shot during location filming of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, a long shoot which finished on March 1, 2006.[17] During August 2005, the Singapore sequence was shot. The set was built on Stage 12 of the Universal backlot, and comprised 40 structures within an 80 by 130-foot (24 by 40-m) tank that was 3½ feet (1 m) deep. As 18th century Singapore is not a well-documented era, the filmmakers chose to use an Expressionist style based on Chinese and Malaysian cities of the same period. The design of the city was also intended by Verbinski to parody spa culture, with fungi growing throughout the set. Continuing this natural feel, the floorboards of Sao Feng's bathhouse had to be cut by hand, and real humidity was created by the combination of gallons of water and the lighting equipment on the set.[18]
Filming resumed on August 3, 2006 at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah[19] and continued until early 2007 for 70 days off the California coast, as all the shooting required in the Caribbean had been conducted in 2005.[20] Davy Jones' Locker was shot at Utah, and it was shot in a monochromatic way to represent its different feeling from the usual colorful environment of a pirate.[21] The climactic battle was shot in a former air hangar at Palmdale, California,[22] where the cast had to wear wetsuits underneath their costumes on angle-tipped ships. The water-drenched set was kept in freezing temperatures, to make sure bacteria did not come inside and infect the crew.[23] A second unit shot at Niagara Falls.[24] Industrial Light & Magic did 750 effects shots, while Digital Domain also took on 300. They spent just five months finishing the special effects. The film posed numerous challenges in creating water-based effects.[25]
Filming finished on December 12, 2006 in Molokai,[26] and the first assembly cut was three hours.[27] Twenty minutes were removed, not including end credits, though producer Jerry Bruckheimer maintained that the long running time was needed to make the final battle work in terms of build-up.[28] Hans Zimmer composed the score as he did for the previous film, composing eight new motifs including a new love theme for the At World's End soundtrack.[26] He scored scenes as the editors began work, so as to influence their choice of cutting to the music. Gore Verbinski helped on the score. He played the guitar in the parley scene between Barbossa, Sparrow, Elizabeth and Will, Davy Jones, and Cutler Beckett.[29] He also co-wrote the song "Hoist the Colours" with Zimmer.[30]
The world premiere of At World's End was held on May 19, 2007, at Disneyland, home of the ride that inspired the film and where the first two films in the trilogy debuted. Disneyland offered the general public a chance to attend the premiere through the sale of tickets, priced at $1,500 per ticket, with proceeds going to the Make-a-Wish Foundation charity.[31] Just a few weeks before the film's release, Walt Disney Pictures decided to move the United States opening of At World's End from screenings Friday, May 25, 2007 to Thursday at 8 PM, May 24, 2007.[32] The film opened in 4,362 theaters domestically, beating Spider-Man 3's theater opening record by 110 (this record was surpassed by The Dark Knight the following year).[33][34]
After a muted publicity campaign, the trailer finally debuted at ShoWest 2007.[35] It was shown on March 18, 2007 at a special screening of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl named "Pirates Ultimate Fan Event", and was then shown on March 19 during Dancing with the Stars, before it debuted online.[36] Action figures by NECA were released in late April.[37] Board games such as a Collector’s Edition Chess Set, a Monopoly Game, and a Pirates Dice Game (Liar's dice) were also released. Master Replicas have made sculptures of characters and replicas of jewellery and the Dead Man's Chest.[38] A video game with the same title as the film was released on May 22, 2007 on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, PSP, PlayStation 2, PC, and Nintendo DS formats.[39] The soundtrack and its remix were also released on May 22.
At least one nation's official censors have ordered scenes cut from the film. According to Xinhua, the state news agency of the People's Republic of China, ten minutes of footage containing Chow Yun-fat's portrayal of Singaporean pirate Sao Feng have been trimmed from versions of the film which may be shown in China. Chow is onscreen for twenty minutes in the uncensored theatrical release of the film. No official reason for the censorship was given, but unofficial sources within China have indicated that the character gave a negative and stereotypical portrayal of the Chinese people.[40]
As with Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, At World's End received mixed reviews. The most common criticism of the film from reviewers was that the plot was too convoluted for them to follow. In review aggregate websites, At World's End has a "Rotten" rating of 45% on Rotten Tomatoes[41] and 50% at Metacritic.[42] Favorable reviewer Alex Billington noted, "This is just how the film industry works nowadays; critics give bad opinions, the public usually has a differing opinion, and all is well in the world of Hollywood since the studios made their millions anyway."[43] The film was voted "Best Movie" and "Best Threequel" at the People's Choice Awards. Depp and Knightley also won awards for their performances.[44]
Drew McWeeny was an exception, praising its complexity as giving it repeat-viewing value, and its conclusion as "perhaps the most canny move it makes."[45] Todd Gilchrist found the story too similar to other cinematic trilogies such as Star Wars but praised the production values.[46] Brian Lowry felt that "unlike last year's bloated sequel, it at least possesses some semblance of a destination, making it slightly more coherent - if no less numbing during the protracted finale."[47] Total Film praised the performances but complained that the twists and exposition made it hard to care for the characters.[48] Edward Douglas liked the film but had issues with its pacing,[49] while Blake Wright criticized the Davy Jones' Locker and Calypso segments.[50] James Berardinelli found it the weakest of the trilogy as "the last hour offers adventure as rousing as anything provided in either of the previous installments... which doesn't account for the other 108 minutes of this gorged, self-indulgent, and uneven production."[51] Peter Travers praised Richards and Rush but felt "there can indeed be too much of a good thing," regarding Depp's character.[52] Travers later declared the movie to be one of the worst films of the year.[53] Colm Andrew of the Manx Independent said the film was overall a disappointment and that "the final showdown ... is a non-event and the repetitive swordplay and inane plot contrivances simply become boring by the end".[54]
Chow Yun-fat's character stirred a great deal of controversy with the Chinese press. Perry Lam, of Hong Kong cultural magazine, Muse, found the striking resemblance between Chow's character and Fu Manchu offensive: "Now Fu Manchu has returned after an absence of 27 years in the Hollywood cinema; except that, in a nod to political correctness and marketing realities, he is no longer called Fu Manchu."[55]
The film had two nominations for the 80th Academy Awards in the Visual Effects and Makeup categories.[56] It lost to The Golden Compass and La Vie en Rose, respectively.
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End earned $309,420,425 in North America and $654,000,000 in other territories for a worldwide total of $963,420,425. It is the highest-grossing film of 2007 worldwide and is currently the 12th highest-grossing film of all time worldwide.[1][57][58] Compared to its predecessor, it grossed far less at the North American box office ($309.4 million against Dead Man's Chest's $423.3 million) but overseas -with $654.0 million- it out-grossed Pirates 2 by a mere $11.1 million. Still, its worldwide earnings are more than $100 million below Dead Man's Chest's.[59]
On its worldwide opening weekend it grossed $344.0 million, making it the sixth-largest worldwide opening of all time, behind the openings of Deathly Hallows – Part 2 ($483.2 million), Half-Blood Prince ($394.0 million), Transformers: Dark of the Moon ($382.0 million), Spider-Man 3 ($381.7 million) and On Stranger Tides ($350.6 million).[60]
At World's End was released in a then record 4,362 theaters in North America[61] and was shown on around 11,500 screens which is still an all-time record.[62] On its first weekend it earned $114,732,820, which ranks 10th among the highest-grossing opening weekends at the box office in the U.S.A. and Canada, and when adding in Memorial Day's earnings it grossed $139,802,190 breaking the Memorial Day 4-day weekend record previously held by X-Men: The Last Stand ($122,861,157). When including Thursday night previews, as well, its 5-day total was $153,042,234.[63] The film was the fourth highest-grossing film of 2007 behind Spider-Man 3, Shrek the Third and Transformers.[1]
Of May's Big Three as they were called (Spider-Man 3, Shrek 3 and Pirates 3),[64] Pirates 3 grossed the least both during its opening weekend ($114.7 million against $121.6 million and $151.1 million from Shrek 3 and Spider-Man 3 respectively) and in total earnings ($309.4 million against $322.7 million and $336.5 million from Shrek 3 and Spider-Man 3 respectively).[65] However, this was mainly attributed to the fact that it was released third, after the other two films, so there was already too much competition.[66]
Overseas during its opening weekend, it grossed an estimated $216 million, which stands as the sixth biggest overseas opening of all time behind Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 ($314 million), Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides ($260.4 million), Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince ($236 million), Spider-Man 3 ($230,544,376) and Transformers: Dark of the Moon ($219.8 million).[67] It dominated for three consecutive weekends at the overseas box office.[68] By June 12, 2007 -its 20th day of release- the film had grossed $500 million overseas, breaking Spider-Man 3's record for reaching that amount the fastest.[69] Eventually, this record was overtaken by Avatar (15 days), On Stranger Tides (14 days) and Deathly Hallows – Part 2 (11 days).[70]
It is the eleventh highest-grossing film of all time overseas and the third-largest Disney film after On Stranger Tides and Alice in Wonderland.[71] Countries were it earned more than $10 million were Japan ($91.1 million), the UK, Ireland and Malta ($81.4 million), Germany ($59.4 million), France and the Maghreb region ($48.2 million), South Korea ($31.6 million), Spain ($31.5 million), Russia and the CIS ($30.9 million), Australia ($29.1 million), Mexico ($24.3 million), Italy ($22.5 million), China ($17.0 million), Brazil (15.8 million), the Netherlands ($13.8 million), Sweden ($11.7 million) and Belgium and Luxembourg ($10.0 million).[72] In South Korea, its opening weekend stands as the second highest-grossing one of all time ($16.7 million) behind Transformers: Dark of the Moon's $21.8 million debut.[73] South Korea is also by far At World's End's most front-loaded territory (its opening accounted for 52.8% of its total gross).[74]
The one-disc and two-disc re-edited versions of the Region 2 DVD were released by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment in the UK on November 19, 2007, on both standard DVD and Blu-ray Disc formats.[75] The film was released on DVD in Australia on November 21, 2007, and released on December 4, 2007 in the United States and Canada. The 2-Disc Limited Edition DVD was in continuous circulation until it stopped on September 30, 2008. In contrast, the Blu-ray Disc release, containing all of the features from the 2-Disc DVD version (including some original scenes from the theatrical release, but excluding the writer's commentary) is still widely available. The initial Blu-ray Disc release was misprinted on the back of the box as 1080i, although Disney confirmed it to be 1080p. Disney has decided not to recall the misprinted units, but will fix the error on subsequent printings.[76] DVD sales brought in $296,043,871 in revenue marking the best-selling DVD of 2007, although it ranks second in terms of units sold (14,496,242) behind Transformers.[58]
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||