Pirates of the Caribbean is a series of fantasy swashbuckler films produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and based on Walt Disney’s theme park ride of the same name. The film series started with their first release on the big screen in 2003 with Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, which received positive reviews from the critics and grossed US$654 million worldwide.^[1] After the first film’s success, Walt Disney Pictures revealed that a trilogy was in the works.

The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)

Blacksmith Will Turner teams up with eccentric pirate Captain Jack Sparrow to save Turner’s love, Elizabeth Swann, from un dead pirates led by Jack’s former mutinous first mate, Captain Barbossa. Jack wants revenge against Barbossa, who left him stranded on an island before stealing his ship, the Black Pearl, along with 882 pieces of cursed Aztec Gold.

Dead Man’s Chest (2006)

Lord Cutler Beckett of the East India Trading Company arrests Will and Elizabeth for aiding Captain Jack Sparrow in the previous film. Beckett offers clemency if Will agrees to search for Jack’s compass in a bid to find the Dead Man’s Chest – and inside, the heart of villainous Davy Jones– which would give Beckett control of the seas. However, Jack wants the Chest to escape from an unpaid debt with Jones, who raised the Black Pearl from the seabed (after it was sunk by Beckett) and made Jack captain for 13 years in exchange for 100 years of service aboard Jones’ ship.

At World’s End (2007)

Lord Beckett gains power over Davy Jones, and with the help of Jones’ ship, the Flying Dutchman, he is now executing his plans to extinguish piracy forever. To stand against the East India Trading Co., Will, Elizabeth, Barbossa, and the crew of the Black Pearl set out to rescue Captain Jack Sparrow from Davy Jones’ Locker. As one of the Nine Pirate Lords, Jack is needed in order to summon an ancient goddess with the power to defeat Beckett’s forces.

On Stranger Tides (2011)

Captain Jack Sparrow is on a quest to find the fabled Fountain of Youth and crosses paths with a former lover, Angelica. She forces Jack aboard the Queen Anne’s Revenge, a ship captained by the infamous pirate Blackbeard, Angelica’s father. Both are also in search of the Fountain; Angelica to save her father’s soul, Blackbeard to escape a prophecy of his demise at the hands of a one-legged man. Joining the hunt is former pirate captain Barbossa, now a privateer in King George II’s Navy, who is in a race against the Spanish for the Fountain.

Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017)

“Thrust into an all-new adventure, a down-on-his-luck Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) finds the winds of ill-fortune blowing even more strongly when deadly ghost pirates led by his old nemesis, the terrifying Captain Salazar (Javier Bardem), escape from the Devil’s Triangle, determined to kill every pirate at sea, including him. Captain Jack’s only hope of survival lies in seeking out the legendary Trident of Poseidon, a powerful artifact that bestows upon its possessor total control over the seas.”