Might 'Pirates' fans be at wits' end?

The latest Pirates won't bomb; it's a question of how high it will go and whether the bad taste that the sequel, Dead Man's Chest, left for some will drag down the last of the trilogy.
"There's the strong sense that Dead Man's Chest wasn't as beloved and owes most of its success to the first Pirates, which was a real crowd-pleaser. The second movie essentially cooled audiences to the franchise," says Brandon Gray of BoxOfficeMojo.

com.
Fans who were so turned off by Pirates 2 that they refuse to see Pirates 3 are a minority, but their numbers still could have a long-term effect. Moviegoer Colby Newton, 30, of Salt Lake City, called the first film "awesome" and the second "flat-out boring.

"
"I am not planning on going to see At World's End in the theater, and I don't really care if I ever even see it on DVD," he says.
There is precedent. A backlash to the disastrous Batman Robin in 1997 wrecked a seemingly bulletproof franchise.

A similar steep plunge in popularity and a rise in bad-mouthing would imperil a fourth Pirates movie, which has a plot proposed at the end of the third movie.
Even a more modest drop could shiver some timbers. Without the vindication of shattered box-office records, studios and filmmakers might be forced to re-examine what didn't work.

For instance, the makers of the Indiana Jones movies took more care with 1989's The Last Crusade after opinions were mixed on 1984's Temple of Doom.
It also could lead to recognition that an epic (or two) of this scale can't be hurried through production and still maintain the original's level of quality. Many of the top people working on Pirates 3 grumbled about burnout in the race to make the Memorial Day deadline, only 10 months after the last movie made its debut.

The films were shot back-to-back.
"We're definitely deep-fried, past toast and entered the crouton phase," director Gore Verbinski joked in the midst of post-production two months ago.
Verbinski acknowledged the pressure, as well as the complaints.

"The expectations get kind of ridiculous. There was something nice about nobody expecting anything with the first movie," he says.
Critics were overwhelmingly positive about the first Pirates movie, The Curse of the Black Pearl, praising Johnny Depp's brash portrayal of woozy rapscallion Jack Sparrow.

Depp even received an Oscar nomination.
But reviewers mostly trashed the second film for a muddled story, lack of humor and reliance on admittedly excellent computerized effects at the expense of Depp's human charm. Comments sections on the Internet Movie Database feature threads with fans and former fans warring over the merits and demerits of Pirates 2, and similar arguing took place in the postings to a positive Pirates 3 review this week on AintItCool.

com.
RottenTomatoes.com, which averages the total positive and negative reviews for a film, had At World's End with 53% good reviews on Wednesday, and many of those still slammed the movie as being confusing.

"There are movies where, if I'm going for critical acclaim, those things would matter more," Verbinski says. "But these movies are why they sell those huge tubs of popcorn."
In Hollywood, the most common way to quantify popularity is to count the box-office receipts.

Black Pearl (2003) collected $654 million worldwide. Last summer's Dead Man's Chest surpassed it with a colossal $1 billion worldwide, reflecting the enthusiasm of a large audience that saw the first movie only on DVD and television.
Dead Man's Chest, the highest-grossing movie of last year, was clearly review-proof, but a part of that audience is wary this time.

A USA TODAY/Gallup Poll of 1,010 people found that 63% of adults who have seen both movies ranked the first one as best, while only 33% said the sequel was an improvement, suggesting the sequel's gross is not proof of its quality.
A good rule of thumb is that a follow-up's performance is determined by how much (or little) audiences liked the previous film.
"There's a snowball effect with these movies," BoxOfficeMojo.

com's Gray says.
Sequel missteps have done damage before in the arena of mega-super-ultra-blockbusters.
The Matrix astonished audiences in 1999 with its dazzling sci-fi action and reality-bending story, and two sequels were commissioned back-to-back.

The second film, The Matrix Reloaded, broke box-office records and earned $738 million worldwide.
Kickback from fans unhappy with Reloaded wasn't felt until The Matrix Revolutions premiered several months later. That movie opened strong as movies go but far below the records set by Reloaded.

Ultimately, it earned only $425 million worldwide. "Only" is a relative term, but the figure was more than $300 million below its predecessor.
Similar plunges occurred for the later, less well-regarded movies in the Jurassic Park, Back to the Future and Christopher Reeve Superman films, effectively ending the franchises or stalling them for decades, Gray says.

He predicts At World's End will have a huge opening weekend but ultimately not sell as many tickets as Dead Man's Chest, something that is common for third movies. "But if (the final total) drops more than 20% or so, there should be some alarm bells ringing."
There is good news for Pirates 3 as it enters theaters.

The USA TODAY/Gallup survey found that 25% of respondents planned to see it in the theater a huge number if it holds true.
Peter Guber, a producer and former chairman of Sony Pictures who now co-hosts AMC's showbiz talk show Sunday Morning Shootout, says: "The result of this film will be enormous in the first week. Then the question is not whether it will stand, but whether it will hold for the second, third and fourth weeks as robust as the other films.

"
If there is any drop in box office, the Walt Disney Co. studio would be wise "to consider what they need to do to keep the enterprise healthy and vital," since Pirates is so important to not only the studio, but also its theme parks and merchandising. He says there's little to worry about: "Even if it's a (box-office) slip, it won't be a fracture.

It will be just a slip." Disney executives did not respond to requests for comment.
Jeffrey Wells of the entertainment blog Hollywood-Elsewhere.

com, a relentless critic of consumerist moviemaking, also doesn't think the financial backlash will be significant.
"If there was a God, yes. But of course, there is no God.

People are probably going to go to Pirates3 like lemmings and shower every last extravagant Verbinski impulse with filthy lucre," Wells says.
There's "room in the movie world for fun, brainless eye candy," but the Pirates films "are monster movies, in a sense the monsters being the craven, thoughtless mentality behind their creation."
Fans who responded to a USA TODAY.

com query about their feelings on the movies mostly were optimistic about the new film, although opinions were split on the second film. Many who expressed skepticism were planning to give At World's End a chance.
"I plan on seeing the third Pirates movie and am anxiously awaiting its release whatever the reviews.

If it's a bomb, then I guess I will see it only once, but I will go and see it at least once," says Pirates fan Anita McCaskey, 41, of Manassas Park, Va., who loved both previous films.
Nilorie Gabrell, 47, of Loganville, Ga.

, says she saw Black Pearl 11 times in the theater and Dead Man's Chest seven. She plans to start her repeat viewing tonight at 10:40. The changes between the first movie and the sequels didn't bother her: "I love Pirates 2 and was not at all disappointed at the turn of events in the film.

In fact, I was thrilled by it. As a theater teacher, I know that characters have to grow and change in order for a story to have value."
College student Caesar Barba, 21, of Los Angeles, says Pirates 2 "seemed a little repetitive.

And I didn't think Johnny Depp's character was as strong, but the special effects made up for anything lacking in the plot or characters." He's there for the third movie: "I think I'm going to be blown away."
His friends, many of them film students, felt ambivalence after the second movie.

"Most of them were disappointed and didn't find a lot redeeming, but when they saw the preview for the third, they were like, 'Oh, my God, that's going to be amazing.' "
Courtney Altizer, 32, of Starkville, Miss., "won't be as excited about the third installment, but I feel a connection to the characters and want to see how the story ends.

I do honestly love the Captain Jack Sparrow character and will enjoy seeing him whether the movie is worth $7.50 or not."
Among others willing to push aside mixed feelings was Sybil Kelly, 58, of Minneapolis, who says Dead Man's Chest "was way too long, but it was still fun.

I'd watch Johnny Depp read a cookbook."
Jack's back: Pirates of the Caribbean fans have great affection for the Jack Sparrow character played by Johnny Depp, left, with Orlando Bloom, as Will Turner. The third movie, At World's End, opens today.