Pirates are Way Cooler than Ninjas
Cinematical wants to know, what is it about those damn pirates? After all,
By now, you’re probably already aware Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest absolutely rocked the box office this past weekend, shattering Spider-Man’s previous three-day record of $114.8 million back in 2002. Yes, it beat Spider-Man. It beat Star Wars. It beat Superman. It beat Jesus. And it beat Spielberg. Even despite a round of “not as good as the first one” reviews, Captain Jack and friends still managed to shock everyone by taking over the top spot.
The question, of course, is why. Superman was a hotly anticipated relaunch. The DaVinci Code was a controversial blockbuster. Spider-Man and Star Wars had fanboys everywhere drooling for months in anticipation – and the same, interestingly enough, could be said about Jesus.
The easy answer is that audiences want to see what Johnny Depp is going to do next. Depp does more than just play Captain Jack Sparrow, he plays him with gusto. His passion for the role and the fun he has playing it comes through in every frame of film. We see the movie because we want to see more Jack Sparrow.
But, as I said, that’s the easy answer – and easy answers, while they may have some truth, are rarely (if ever) the entire truth. I think part of it has to do with savvy marketing. True, we’re surrounded by piratical product tie-ins (Arr!) but the saturation of the market feels less intrusive than the billions of S-crested products that marked the return of the Last Son of Krypton. And let’s bear in mind that the first Pirates of the Carribean was a movie that arrived with little fanfare and took off as a surprise hit.
Audiences are flocking to Pirates because for once it’s a blockbuster we’ve all been looking forward to without being told every minute of every day that we’re supposed to be looking forward to it. It’s a flick. It’s a flick we’ll enjoy. It’ll be entertaining. And the people turning it into an “Event” with a capital “E” are the audiences and not the marketing gurus.