The release date for "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales" has been moved from 2015 to 2016.
On Tuesday, Disney released a note stating that the new "Pirates" movie was "unset." The news came a few hours after the company announced that their upcoming "Ant-Man" movie would be released on July 31, 2015.
The original "Pirates" release date was July 10 and would have returned the franchise to the month that launched the movies back in 2004. However, the last two installments, "At World's End" and "On Stranger Tides," both opened around Memorial Day weekend. Disney has yet to announce a date for the fifth installment, but most pundits are predicting the studio may choose Memorial Day 2016.
Disney already has a busy summer slate in 2015 that includes Marvel's "The Avengers: Age of Ultron," Pixar's "Inside Out," and now "Ant-Man." "Star Wars: Episode VII" is also slated for release in 2015, though no launch date has been confirmed yet. Additionally, the summer slate is also crowded by other franchises including "Batman vs. Superman," "Jurassic Park 4" and "The Hunger Games."
"Pirates: Dead Men tell No Tales" will be directed by "Kon-Tiki" helmers Joachim Ronning and Espen Sandberg; Jerry Bruckheimer will produce the movie. The tentpole is slated to begin production in the fall of 2014 in New Orleans. The film was originally slated to start production in the first quarter of the year, but the studio needed more time to develop the project. Johnny Depp will reprise his role as Jack Sparrow, but no other casting announcements have been made.