Bruckheimer then goes on to say writers Terry Rossio and Ted Elliot are writing the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean right now and the new film will be a "whole new way of going" without giving any plot details.

I guess my primary shock is that Depp is sticking with this one despite originally being known as someone that didn't exactly go for the Hollywood blockbusters and sort of went his own way. His participation in the first Pirates came as a surprise and ultimately garnered him Golden Globe and Oscar nominations to go along with a win at the Screen Actors Guild Awards. The latter two films in the franchise were not looked upon as kindly, yet they still scored major dollars at the box-office. Is Pirates 4 a guaranteed cash cow? Certainly. Am I still surprised Depp wants to travel down that road again? Most definitely.

As for The Lone Ranger, rumors began to spread Prince of Persia helmer Mike Newell was going to take the reigns on that project, but Bruckheimer told ComingSoon, "We don't have a director yet. He's too busy on 'Prince of Persia' right now."]]> http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/article/downey-on-avengers-rejected-twilight-script-terminator-poster-and-much-much-more

First off, Sony Pictures is handling the international distribution of Terminator Salvation and as a coming out prize they bring a Flash animated motion poster picturing the destruction of Los Angeles as it turns into the robotic face of a Terminator. You think that is just a coincidence? Guess again. Check it out here.

RUMOR: Sylvester Stallone hints at the possibility that Dolph "Ivan Drago" Lundgren may find a role in his next flick The Expendables and fighting against Jet Li. The film already stars Stallone, Li and Jason Statham. I couldn't be any more excited.

Criterion is now offering some of their collection for online viewing for $5.

Eric Snider has posted his "rejected" screenplay for Twilight and it has some good laughs. Here's a snippet, get the full deal right here"

Scene 4

JACOB: You should be careful with those Cullens. Many moons ago, our tribe's elders, who were werewolves, made a pact with the Cullens, who were vampires. They're not allowed on our land, not even at our casinos.
BELLA: What, still? Even after all this time has passed?
JACOB: Nope.
BELLA: Since when do white people honor treaties with Indians?
JACOB: I know, right?
BELLA: Let me guess -- you're a character whose only job is to provide exposition, and you won't be useful until the next book.
JACOB: Yes. At the earliest.

NEW POSTERS: Notorious, Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, Taken, Bride Wars, Adventureland, Fired Up

Ain't It Cool News has a ridiculous rumor saying the next I Am Legend film may actually be a sequel and not a prequel as previously mentioned. I say it's ridiculous only if Will Smith is somehow planning on returning as was announced. Otherwise, good on 'em. Perhaps the best part of the whole thing is taking news from someone referring to themselves as "Westwood9"... Yeah, I think the same source gives the "New York Times" tips daily.

Apparently there is a Star Trek comic in the works and due in January 2009.

Ain't It Cool News got word from a Incredible Hulk star Tim Blake Nelson that he plans on playing The Leader in the next Hulk film:

AICN: Great well what about a potential HULK sequel? Gale Anne Hurd's been going around talking about how you might be The Leader and the main villain of the next one.
Tim Blake Nelson: That's the plan. That's what they tell me, but I don't know when that's happening or what the details are but I am eager to do it and I hear that's in the works. I would tell you if I knew more, but I honestly don't.

AICN: Yeah, but you haven't played a comic-book villain yet right?
Tim Blake Nelson: No, but I had a great time doing HULK, so if they want me for HULK 2 I'm there, it certainly was the plan going into HULK 1. When I met with them they said this is where it�s headed so I'm eager to do it.

SUPERHERO POLL: Readers at Newsarama.com want "Fringe" star Mark Valley to play Captain America.

RUMOR: Pirates of the Caribbean 4 speculated to be coming by way of Disney 3-D.

RUMOR: Kung Fu Panda director John Stevenson is said to be attached to direct the new He-Man film.

Finally, Robert Downey Jr. talked to MTV about The Avengers spin-off featuring a superhero team-up and said:

The danger you run with colliding all these worlds is [director] Jon [Favreau] was very certain that 'Iron Man' should be set in a very realistic world. Nothing that happened in 'Iron Man' is really outside the realm of possibility. Once you start talking about Valhalla and supersized super soldiers and jolly green giants it warrants much further discussion.

"We're doing another National Treasure so we're working on that, we're preparing Sorcerer's Apprentice right now - it's going to be shot in New York - we have another picture that's in post-production that we're finishing called Confessions of a Shopaholic with Isla Fischer and Hugh Dancy, so that comes out in February... We've sat with the writers and we're working up the story and plotlines right now. They're in the process of finishing The Lone Ranger so they're working on both of those simultaneously, same set of writers, Elliot and Rossio, who did all three Pirates and worked on National Treasure [2]."

In wacked out Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen news we learn there is going to be another hot chick in it outside of just Megan Fox competing for fanboy jerkoff time. The twist to this chick is that she isn't exactly a chick as much as she is a robot pretending to be a chick. Here's the skinny:

The TFW TF2 Insider has confirmed that the character of Alice, as played by Isabel Lucas, in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, is a Pretender. For those not familiar with Transformers sublines from the 1980s, Pretenders are Transformers that are hidden inside a shell that acts as their disguise. In the case of Alice, the shell will be an attractive human woman while the inner robot is best described as a hybrid of the Frenzy robot design from the first movie. The Pretender Transformer will have an arm that transforms into an energy weapon, a long tongue, and a scanning tenticle.

Some more set pics from Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds are online right here and here.

Speaking of Quentin Tarantino related goodies, a nude model has painted herself up as The Bride from Kill Bill and three pics are online right here.

Apparently there are plans for two sequels to 2002's Road to Perdition called Road to Purgatory and Road to Paradise and apparently "Perdition" author Max Allan Collins is going to direct them from his own screenplay adaptations. IGN has the storylines for the two follow-ups over here.

POSTERS: Wendy and Lucy, Seven Pounds, Australia (one and two), Pink Panther 2 and Coraline

New photos and feature articles for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button are online at The Los Angeles Times and New York Times.

The official website for Watchmen was updated with a bio for The Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan).

Mike Meyers isn't done yet as there is expected to be a Halloween 2 following up Rob Zombie's sh*tfest.

Joe Carnahan has revealed his prequel to Smokin' Aces has been greenlit. If memory serves this is expected to go straight to DVD.

A reader review of the new Friday the 13th from a test screening is up at IESB.

Finally, Fox is running some kind of new Gort feature for The Day the Earth Stood Still on the official website.]]> http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/article/lethal_weapon_5_tron_2_get_smart_2_dracula_2_and_depps_56_million_20081007

Paul Andrew Williams (The Cottage) is rumored to be up for the job of directing the far from needed 28 Months Later. This has already been proven false.

Some awful pictures of Wolfman banners are online.

Netflix failed to meet its subscriber growth projections for the third quarter. It also scaled back its estimates for the end of the year. However, I still recommend everyone buy the Netflix Roku player.

Bram Stoker's great-grandnephew and blood descendant, Dacre Stoker, wrote a sequel to Stoker's "Dracula" called "The Un-Dead" and it will appear in October 2009. A film adaptation has been written by Ian Holt with the story co-written by Alexander Galant. Filming is expected to begin in June '09.

Tron 2 director Joseph Kosinski talked about the film over here while Jeff Bridges has some quotes on it over here.

Get Smart 2 is quite likely to happen.

Here's a look at the godawful costume from Kick-Ass. Looks more like a cheesy SNL skit, but I am sure some CGI will clean it up and make it look cool.

Word has it Johnny Depp will get $56 million for Pirates of the Caribbean 4. How many cookies does that buy?

M. Night Shyamalan keeps on talking about Unbreakable 2. Shyamalan also says his next horror film will be shot in 2010.

Corey Haim doesn't like Lost Boys 2, but holds out hope for Lost Boys 3. He may be the only one.

Bill Murray is cool with a Ghostbusters 3.

Indiana Jones 5 talk will not go away with Harrison Ford now saying, "George [Lucas] is in think mode right now." Last time he got to thinking it ended up with aliens and crystal skulls, someone stop him before it turns into aging hippies played by Cheech and Chong.

Fake Michael Bay twittering on Twitter gets a cease and desist. The fake poster says things such as "Just had a Turducken for a snack" and "I had 50 eggs for lunch. No big deal." The funny thing about the cease and desist letter is that it doesn't say everything being posted is "untrue and defamatory" just "many" of the statements. Perhaps this is the true story?

And now, the best "Saturday Night Live" skit in a long, long, long time.

Thanks to SlashFilm, FirstShowing, Los Angeles Times, Variety, The Guardian, The Daily Mail, STYD, IGN and JoBlo for contributing to this report.]]> http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/article/scarlett_marries_pirates_4_release_date_blade_runner_2_and_a_look_at_jason_20080929

There is a rumored May 20, 2011 release date for Pirates of the Caribbean 4.

Apparently James Cameron didn't give McG a blessing to make Terminator Salvation. I am not sure why this matters though.

SlashFilm also has word the Eagle Eye screenwriters are working on a script for a Blade Runner 2.

The first image from Wrong Turn 3 of Janet Montgomery is online.

Bloody-Disgusting has up an interview with Paris Hilton for Repo! The Genetic Opera. I didn't read it but I just think it is funny that anyone would want to talk to her, but hey, I'm linking to it so I guess it worked on some level.

MTV has the first look at Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley from Harry Potter) in Cherrybomb. Pretty cool pic actually.

Pictures of an unmasked Jason Voorhees from the new Friday the 13th are online in abundance.

Heath Ledger's 2-year-old daughter, Matilda, is supposed to get a $10 million life insurance policy, but lawyers are holding it up saying Ledger's death may have been suicide.

This is old news, but I forgot to mention it, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince will have approximately 25 minutes in IMAX 3-D split between the opening sequence of the film and the finale.

Kris Tapley at InContention reminds me of this relevant Wall Street clip:

While I remind you that Tina Fey almost doesn't have to change a single word Sarah Palin said in her Katie Couric interview to make this spoof funny.

Thanks to InContention, SlashFilm, MTV, HorrorBid, Bloody-Disgusting, IMDb and US Magazine for contributing to this report.]]> http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/article/dark_knight_blu_ray_art_alice_in_wonderland_set_pics_and_clooney_as_ranger_20080926

• The Lone Ranger
• Pirates of the Caribbean 4
• National Treasure 3
• Hairspray 2
• Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
• I Am Legend Prequel
• Lethal Weapon 5
• Let the Right One In

Some rumors have George Clooney as a potential star for The Lone Ranger starring opposite Depp who will play Tonto.

George A. Romero is making yet another zombie movie.

Yahoo has some Iron Man concept art and the first look at the cover art for The Dark Knight Blu-ray and Batpod Blu-ray are online.

Roger Ebert responds to an idiot with the following response in his Answer Man column:

Question: Yo dude, u missed out on "Disaster Movie," a hardcore laugh-ur-@zz-off movie! Y U not review this movie!? It was funny as #ell! Prolly the funniest movie of the summer! U never review these, wat up wit dat?

Ebert's Response: Hey, bro, I wuz buzier than $#i+, @d they never shoed it b4 hand. I peeped in the IMDb and saw it zoomed to #1 as the low$ie$t flic of all time, wit @ lame-@zz UZer Rating of 1.3. U liked it? Wat up wit dat?

There's also a crushed cab from the set of Kick-Ass over here and even more here along with comic comparison.

A bomb threat at MGM? Did the Weinstein's have anything to do with it?

Speaking of Weinstein, there are some 11-year-old Harvey Weinstein and Quentin Tarantino taped phone calls up at Defamer that don't paint Robert De Niro in a flattering light at least not from the opinion of those in the conversation. At one point Tarantino says, "Tell Bob not to call me yelling and screaming . . . I don't know if I'm going to be nice [if] the guy calls up yelling and screaming at me like a maniac, calling me a [bleep]er!"

IESB is detailing some footage they recently saw of The Surrogates and Prince of Persia.

Finally, the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows script is half-done and word is Half-Blood Prince will be getting some edits due to mixed reviews from early test screenings.

Thanks to SlashFilm, FilmDrunk, SuperheroHype, CHUD, Ain't It Cool News, HPANA, IESB, Defamer, Variety, Yahoo and Bloody-Disgusting for contribution to this report.]]> http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/article/depp_is_lone_ranger_and_word_of_pirates_of_the_caribbean_4_20080924 Cars 2 would be released in 2011, Johnny Depp would be the Mad Hatter in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland and now IESB has two more bits of news saying Depp was actually on hand and appeared in full Jack Sparrow garb with a nickel plated revolver and a Lone Ranger mask. The mask was dropped only to reveal it was in fact Johnny Depp and then Chairman of Walt Disney Studios, Dick Cook, said it would be a perfect Trifecta, Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland and now as Tonto in The Long Ranger and he promised Disney would throw in another Pirates movie for good measure reports IESB.

There have been past reports of a Pirates of the Caribbean 4 (one here and another here) but nothing concrete. I also don't think Cook's statement of "throwing another one in for good measure" really constitutes a confirmation, but it sounds like they are definitely pursuing the possibility.

One Pirates 4 rumor had Elizabeth and Will (Knightley and Bloom) being tossed aside in favor of a buddy feature centered on the search for the Fountain of Youth as Captain Jack Sparrow and Barbossa ultimately team up following a bunch of double-crossing in an effort "to defeat some supernatural terror."

Pirates scripters Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio are behind the The Lone Ranger film with Jerry Bruckheimer producing.]]> http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/article/mtv_proves_their_irrelevance_with_2008_mtv_movie_award_winners Tonight the MTV Movie Awards were held with Mike Myers hosting while at the same time shilling his upcoming sh*tfest The Love Guru (no, I haven't seen it... I am clairvoyant). On hand were such stars as Sarah Jessica Parker, Jennifer Hudson, Tom Cruise, Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr., Charlize Theron, Will Smith and Edward Norton. Obviously, looking at that list and the films hitting theaters this summer it is obvious why each and every one of those bigger names is in attendance, and it isn't because they respect the MTV Movie Awards.

On top of idolizing Sandler, awards went to Iron Man for Best Summer Movie So Far, Transformers for Best Picture, Will Smith for Best Actor (I Am Legend), Ellen Page for Best Actress (Juno), Zax Efron for Breakthrough Performance (Hairspray), Johnny Depp for Best Comedy Performance (Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End), Briana Evigan and Robert Hoffman for Best Kiss (Step Up to the Streets), Johnny Depp for Best Villain (Sweeney Todd) and the best of the bunch, Sean Faris vs. Cam Gigandet for Best Fight (Never Back Down).

Obviously a rather pathetic list of films, but considering MTV describes their show as irreverent you can't really blame the results. After all, it isn't about the movies as much as it is about giving movie studios and record labels a chance to promote their upcoming films and albums. Chris Brown, Coldplay and The Pussycat Dolls all benefited from the show and I am sure the debut of the first official clip from Twilight was sure to bring in the fans as Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson gave an interview on the yellow(?) carpet. Oh, and you can watch that clip right here.]]> http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/article/dvd_review_pirates_of_the_caribbean_at_worlds_end_2_disc_special_edition

While touring the facility at ILM one of our stops was the desk of Aaron McBride who was personally involved in creating and designing several of the new characters you see inhabiting Davy Jones' Flying Dutchman in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. While there he showed us some of the early sketches as well as concept art for the new Flying Dutchman crew and now we have the art and the words from the man himself.

To check out the feature article click here or on the pic above.

Trust me, this one is quick and a lot of fun. Not to mention you get an up close look at the character that Aaron referenced developing chicken embryos, eight-ball hemorrhages and autopsies to create. It is good fun!]]> http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/article/pirates_3_behind_the_scenes
At this very moment Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End has raked in at the domestic box-office and over $401 million worldwide. Taking those numbers into consideration I am going to assume that many of you have seen the film and I am now going to take you on part one of my journey to the home of Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) as the visual effects wizards took me and some fellow onliners on a trip around their house and showed us how some of it was done.

NOTE: The images featured in this article are shots chosen by Disney to showcase the work done by ILM. These images are exclusive only to the limited sites that visited ILM. You can click on each one for a larger version, including the image above.

Arriving at ILM it is a bit unassuming, especially since they now inhabit a one-time military location and even informed us that if you get caught speeding on the massive campus you aren't getting just a regular ticket, it is an actual federal offense. Then, you walk inside and are greeted with so much Star Wars memorabilia it is insane. Remember, this is the house that Lucas built and not only does ILM do visual effects for hundreds of movies, but the campus also plays home to StarWars.com and LucasArts.com and everything Lucas related.

Aside from screening rooms and workstations there is a strange force running in the background and feeding that force is a server farm like you wouldn't believe. This place has 6,500 processors doing about 70,000 processor hours every night, which if we compared that to your desktop it means it would take your computer 8 years to do what their facility does in one night. How else would they get the effects done on not only Pirates 3, but Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Transformers, Evan Almighty and The Spiderwick Chronicles? Feeding this beast is 1,900 miles of copper wire and 700 miles of fiber. By a quick count I would say that is a lot of miles and a lot of wire.

When we spoke with Kevin Clark, the Director of IT Operations, he compared his work to a car race saying that if something goes wrong they are essentially changing the tires with the car still racing around the track.

However, enough of the technical mumbo-jumbo (although there is likely to be more), we also spoke with Pirates 3 Visual Effects Supervisor Jon Knoll and Animation Supervisor Hal Hickel. Knoll was the visual effects supervisor on all three Pirates films, all three Star Wars prequels and Mission: Impossible while Hickel was the animation supervisor on Pirates 1 and 2 as well as Star Wars: Episode II.

When we visited the facility, Pirates 3 was actually still incomplete as Knoll told us, "At this very moment we still have six shots that we're struggling with and hopefully will have done later today."

The shots they were struggling on you are probably already familiar with, they would be the shots that take place during the 20-minute maelstrom at the end of the film, a scene in which more visual effects are found than in many FX-driven feature films in their entirety. How many effects are in most films I have no idea, but Pirates 3 is estimated out at 2,000 and ILM was responsible for about one-third of that number.

Water was certainly the major thorn in their paw and the maelstrom scene was one they worked on for nearly six months and Knoll even told us, "Two months ago I was convinced that it was impossible to get this done in time. We were working around the clock and nothing can be done to really speed this stuff up. We're cutting as many corners as we can. We're trying to be as efficient as we can and push the stuff forward and the shots just weren't happening at a rate that was fast enough to get done in time."

As we all know they did get it done and three weeks later I was able to see the fruits of their labors, but it wasn't just the water effects that stood in their way, there is a whole lot more. Knoll goes on to say, "Out of the 750 shots that we did on [Pirates 3] we have some sort of environmental component. Either we're making the whole maelstrom behind the background or behind the foreground we're doing some other augmentation or replacement."

In Pirates 2 it was bringing the vast island landscapes to life and adding more greenery or making canyons where there were none.

"We've had physical miniatures with pyro and really fantastic environments that had to be created, to flesh out Cannibal Island or Tortuga or any of the different locations in the film." Hickel said, "We had CG ships, our creators, our Kraken - every department. Our simulation for water, cloth, exploding things, all of that stuff has been pushed and pushed and pushed on these three films. On Pirates 1 we had all that ragged and torn cloth on the characters which was a really big challenge for us in our cloth simulation and then on two the bar was upped because their costumes were crusted and sort of ratty and then all the sea life that's all over them with Davy Jones tentacle beard and the sales on the ships. We did a lot more simulation of the sails on ships and particularly with the Flying Dutchman with its ragged sort of seaweed sails. That was an enormous challenge for simulation. So every department got a work out and really rose to the challenge and so that's been very, very satisfying."

Speaking of Davy Jones' ship, The Flying Dutchman, I am sure many of you noticed he had a few new crew members in Pirates 3, ten to be exact. This can cause a few problems as well.

"On Pirates 2 there was quite a long design process of figuring out Davy's main crew members and sort of figuring out what looked good, what sea life to use, what kinds of mussels and clams and barnacles and sort of how to put them together on these guys to make it read and feel like what we wanted it to feel like and not just look like a mess. So there were a lot of iterations and decisions to make about that." Hickel continued, "Well, this time around we had kind of already been through that and we sort of knew what looked good. We were able to turn these characters around really fast and the other thing is that we knew none of them were going to have any lines in the film or have to deliver a big performance, but we did need to be able to bring them close to camera and so they had to be highly detailed."

Detailed is right, and Crash McCreary, director Gore Verbinski's concept and storyboard artist Jim Burkett and ILM's Visual Effects Art Director Aaron McBride set out to create some cool new characters. These characters included the jellyfish laden Jelly, the urchin-like man Quill and the interesting coral infested Piper.

Lucky for you this takes us to part two of our little journey as Aaron McBride himself went over his new creations and not only do we have what he said, but we also have it accompanied with images.

To read on and meet Aaron and all the new characters that you may or may not have seen in Pirates 3 CLICK HERE, it is well worth it.

Below are the rest of the featured images provided to us by Disney. Enjoy!

]]> http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/article/no_3_day_record_for_pirates_3 Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End fell quite short from the 3-day weekend record set by Spider-Man 3 only three weeks ago.

Spider-Man 3 created the record at $151 million opening in 4,252 theaters and Pirates 3, despite opening in a record number of theaters at 4,362, managed only $112.5 million, which actually was even less than Shrek the Third last weekend at $121.6 million. It looks to me like the fact that Spidey 3 still pulled in $13.7 million and Shrek 3 had a rather large fall off but still significant $51 million that it stole some of that Pirates thunder, especially when you consider that Spider-Man 3 opened against virtually nothing and was the first large blockbuster of the season.

For now, I think that is enough analysis from me, enjoy the rest of the weekend and check back tomorrow for the four-day estimates along with Laremy's Weekend Wrap-Up.]]> http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/article/feature_a_pirates_history_yo_ho_yo_ho
The world is fascinated by pirates, and the first two films in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise have profited handsomely off of that phenomenon. How handsomely? Try $1,719,573,730 worth at the worldwide box-office. If you throw in DVD sales we're talking about multi-billion dollar franchise even before the third edition hits on May 24th. For comparison's sake the massive franchises list of the past decade goes a little something like this, the numbers following each title indicate the amount of money the first two films in the trilogy grossed as they headed into a third film:

• Star Wars: $1.6 billion
• Spider-Man: $1.6 billion
• Pirates: $1.7 billion
• Lord of the Rings: $1.8 billion

But why are we so fascinated with pirates? What exactly did Depp, Bloom, Knightley and Verbinski tap into here? How did writers Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio fuse together something so successful? I think the answer lies in the conundrum of pirates as a concept. Yes, they were marauders and murderers, cast adrift from polite society. Yet, within the framework of plunder and pillaging they somehow, on certain fronts, stood for more noble ideals than society at large. They were free men in an era where there wasn't such a thing. There were solid reasons that many men thrown into the navy decided that the pirate life was a better fit for them.

Now, I'm not going to treat you to a term paper so it's time to start weaving in the history with the mythology behind the movie. First up, Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow. Sparrow's flag, shown to the right, is the purported flag of Calico Jack. This was an inspired choice because Calico Jack represented the most famous example of a male captain employing two women (Mary Read and Anne Bonny) who also went on to become famous female pirate captains. Given Sparrow's complicated relationship with Elizabeth Swann and the other females in his life it seems as though the flag wasn't picked at random. There is some debate as to whether or not the flag was actually flown by Calico Jack, but regardless of historical veracity, the creators behind the movie franchise were clearly going for a sense of historical authenticity with the use of a known pirate symbol, the Jolly Roger.

Speaking of, the black skull and bones flag originated around 1700 in the pirate culture. But before the pirates adopted it, the well known skull and long bones symbol had always been associated with graveyards and crypts. It was a symbol of death, and you can see where that would be handy in trying to build up a solid bad-ass reputation. Of course, pirates did not fly under the Jolly Roger all the time, just as no one wears around t-shirts saying "I'm carrying ten pounds of marijuana in my backpack." No, pirates used the flag for effect:

In June 1720 when Bartholomew Roberts sailed into the harbor at Trepassey, Newfoundland with black flags flying, the crews of all 22 vessels in the harbor abandoned them in panic. ~ Source: Wikipedia

POTC does talk about the "pirate code" quite a bit, and this is where Hollywood and history are the most linked. You see, there was a pirate code, or rather a few of them, and they're interesting given the historical context of the time. It is crucial to note that by and large the codes were followed by only the individuals who penned them (the captains) and there wasn't one "official" one that everyone was down with (I mean c'mon, it's not like they were sending faxes to each other). The most famous pirate code comes to us from Bartholomew Roberts (pictured right). Captain Roberts' code has some rules that might surprise you so I'll highlight a few (note, I've changed these into understandable English so you want the official deal click the link). Off we go, the very first rule of the code:

Every man has a vote and equal access to provisions.

No gambling (dice or cards)

No fighting on board, but disagreements may be handled on shore via pistol and sword. Pistols handled by pacing off steps back to back, then firing. If both parties miss the battle (then) shifts to sword where victory awarded to man who draws first blood.

Oddly one of the rules (number nine) was that you couldn't quit. That's right, you could vote and steal but leaving the boat no questions asked was not an option. Thankfully you could buy your way off for about a thousand pounds. Also, if you lost a limb they gave you 800 pounds, so I'm guessing you could call it quits shortly after becoming known as "old one arm."

Punishments for breaking pirate code were death, maiming or marooning. However, "walking the plank" seems to have been a largely made up occurrence that definitely didn't go down in the 1700s. Another version of the pirate code was handed down by John Phillips, and the noticeable differences were that smoking in the crew quarters got you 40 lashes (fire at sea was looked down upon) and marooning was defined as leaving a man on an abandoned island with a bottle of water and a loaded gun. Hmmmm. I wonder what he was supposed to do with that gun. Not good times.

As for the oft mentioned "parlay" it seems to be not so much of a rule as request to talk to the captain about the rules. It's probably from the French "parlez" which means "to speak." It's made its way into our gambling terminology too as it means "to combine multiple teams into one bet." So if you bet the Buccaneers and Raiders to win and they both did you'd win your bet. If you look at the word with these two meanings in mind, then "gambling speak" is a pretty accurate description of what it meant to parlay. You'd probably be killed even after invoking it, and you probably wouldn't know how to invoke it in the first place (which makes Ms. Swann's usage in the first Pirates film is highly suspect, but suspension of disbelief and all, eh?). I think a quote from the song by Stephen Malkmus called "The Hook" pokes fun at our illusions of pirate life pretty well:

We had no wooden legs
Or steel hooks
We had no black eye patches
Or a starving cook
We were just killers with the cold eyes of a sailor

Disney has also flipped pirate lore the other way, making pirate legends into realistic plot points for the trilogy. The notable examples here are "The Flying Dutchman" which is considered the most formidable English ship in the story but was actually known as a ghost ship legend by the pirates themselves.

According to folklore, the Flying Dutchman is a ghost ship that can never go home, doomed to sail "the seven seas" forever.

To complete the muddling of history and script the Kraken was an ancient (1250) Norse legend that was probably just an exaggeration of the Giant Squid. Most likely the Kraken lore wouldn't have made its way to the Caribbean, and Davy Jones and the Kraken idea have never been mixed together in any meaningful fashion before this trilogy.

The Pirates franchise also used the historical "Dead Man's Chest" term from Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island" novel (1883). The lyrics for "Yo Ho, Yo Ho, A Pirate's Life For Me" are also loosely based on the book so not one word of the song was ever sung by a historical pirate. But it does make for some extreme creepiness so I'm happy the theme is used so often in the movies and current trailers for At World's End. And of course the idea of a world's end, a flat earth, persisted throughout history, but most likely the true scientific idea perished about a thousand years before Captain Jack set foot on his beloved ship. But I say if you've got to twist history, at least do it in a cool manner - and I can't fault the franchise there.

As far as the conflict which interests us, piracy and freedom versus stability and dry land, actual historical pirates did attempt to go legit at various times in history (just as Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley are half pirate, half noble agenda). Well, okay, not exactly legit, the plan was still to plunder and murder, but they attempted to establish home bases a few times (for example, New Providence) just like the nation states they pilfered from.

A quote is attributed to Blackbeard which I think sums up the pirate experience and symbolizes our interest in the movies and the history pretty well.

"Come, let us make a Hell of our own, and try how long we can bear it."

So, Yo Ho, Yo Ho, a pirates life for me too. Hope you've learned a little something.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End opens May 24th with Thursday night screenings starting at 8 PM and RopeofSilicon's complete coverage can be found by clicking here.
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LaremyLegel.com, searching for freedom in my own special way.]]> http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/article/quiz_pirates_of_the_caribbean_dead_mans_chest
Last week I brought you our ten question quiz on Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl and you can still test your skills on that here, but today I bring you our second quiz on those pesky pirates with another ten question quiz based on Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.

This time around the questions are a bit tougher as Dead Man's Chest offered up a lot more opportunities to try and stump you guys. Personally I thought the first one was a bit of a snap and based on some of the results I peeked at you guys didn't have too much of a hard time with it either. Hopefully this one will test your knowledge a bit more and you can get it by clicking here or on the image above.

All of the questions on both of the Pirates quizzes can be answered by simply watching the movie so these aren't major brain teasers.

This is of course in celebration of the release of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End this week as it hits theaters on the evening of Thursday, May 24. Have Fun!]]> http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/article/video_seven_clips_from_pirates_3
RopeofSilicon has just added seven clips from the upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End which is set to hit theaters beginning at 8PM on May 24. Are they good? Well, I haven't watched them other than to see them whoosh by on my computer without sound. Granted the film is 165 minutes long and we only have a few of those minutes but I don't want to be spoiled at all.

If you want to spoil a little of the film then to check out the clips click on any of the links below.

The pics begin on page 2 of our At World's End gallery so click here or on Davy Jones' head above to check 'em out.]]> http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/article/four_pirates_3_clips_online_in_hd
AOL/Moviefone has just sent us word that they have four clips online for the upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, both in regular format and in QuickTime HD.

To check out the clips simply click here or on Keira's pretty face above and look for At World's End in theaters on the evening of May 24.]]> http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/article/quiz_pirates_of_the_caribbean_curse_of_the_black_pearl
We are only days away from the release of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, and seeing how RopeofSilicon is a collective fan of the Pirates franchise we are going all out for the release of the third film and the first bit of fun is today's quiz based on the first film, Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl.

Next week I will bring you the quiz based on Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and this one should serve as a good primer for that one as it isn't all that hard and the second one boosts the difficulty level a bit.

So, how well do you know Captain Jack Sparrow, Elizabeth Swann and Will Turner? We'll find out won't we! To get started on the 10 question quiz click here or on the picture above and enjoy!

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End hits theaters on the evening of May 24.]]> http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/article/pirates_3_wants_box_office_booty
So, Spider-Man 3 opens to a confirmed $151.1 million over the course of this last 3-day weekend and now that Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest has seen its opening weekend record smashed by over $15 million Disney wants its record back. So what do they do? According to Variety they tell theaters to begin scheduling screenings of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End at 8 PM on Thursday, May 24. Variety seems to think the move "could conceivably regain bragging rights for the top opening frame" for the Mouse House.

Even though Spidey 3's numbers included midnight and 3 AM screenings, those times are legitimately inside the Friday and three-week time frame. With Disney opening the film one day earlier, even if it is only 4 hours earlier, it is still on Thursday, thus not making it a legitimate three-day weekend.

With rumors that At World's End is going to have a running time north of 150 minutes and won't be shown on as many screens as Spidey's record-breaking 4,252 theaters I don't think Pirates 3 stands a chance at breaking the opening weekend record set by the webbed one, even though I do think it will outlast Spider-Man 3 and make a whole boatload of cash worldwide.

The other big opening this month is Shrek the Third, which is sticking to its May 18 release, especially since its audience will be going to school on Friday and not likely out catching midnight screenings the night before.

Can Pirates 3 break the opening weekend record? Doubtful. Will it make more than Spider-Man 3 overall? You tell us in this week's poll.]]> http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/article/new_pirates_3_feature_and_ratatouille_pics Ratatouille along with a new "Pirate Lords" featurette and two TV Spots for Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.

To check out the Ratatouille pics click here and enjoy the whole gallery.

As for Pirates 3, well the new featurette gives you a chance to meet the Pirate Lords from the four corners of the earth who band together to overthrow the East India Trading Company! The two new TV Spots are titled �Are You Prepared?� and �Stand Together,� and give you a chance to learn why all of your questions will be answered "at world's end"! To check those out click here.

One final Pirates note points you over to MySpace where you can get "piratized" by uploading a photo of yourself and getting full on pirate-style treatment, click here to get started.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End hits theaters on May 25 and Ratatouille makes its way to theaters on June 29. ]]> http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/article/richards_playing_sea_turtle_guitar_in_pirates_3 IMDb has Keith Richards listed as playing Teague Sparrow in the upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. I am not sure if Teague is the name of Captain Jack's father or if there is any truth at all to that name but Richards will be in the film and VH1 had a chat with Pirates production designer Rick Heinrichs who tells the music site a little more about Keith's cameo in the flick:

[Director] Gore [Verbinski] wanted special instruments made for Keith, so me and the prop master, Kris Peck, contacted a friend of ours, Danny Farrington, who designs and builds guitars... We only had a week or so to do this stuff, but we came up with a sea-turtle guitar, as well as a few other period guitars of that time. We were thrilled to have Keith play them. He's in the background [of a scene], fingering away. They're very talented, these pirates."

Stay tuned however, as RopeofSilicon has a couple of nice Pirates surprises coming in the next few weeks that you are sure to enjoy!]]> http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/article/11_new_pirates_of_the_caribbean_3_stills
I am sure many of you have seen these new stills floating around the Net, but now that Disney has provided RopeofSilicon with these 11 new Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End stills I felt it was only right to share with those of you that might not have seen them yet. To check out the gallery, which new includes 20 total images, click here or on the teaser image above.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End hits theaters on May 25. In the follow-up to the record-breaking smash 2006 hit Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, we find our heroes Will Turner (Orlando Bloom), Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) allied with Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) in a desperate quest to free Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) from his mind-bending trap in Davy Jones� locker � while the terrifying ghost ship, The Flying Dutchman and Davy Jones, under the control of the East India Trading Company, wreaks havoc across the Seven Seas. Navigating through treachery, betrayal and wild waters, they must forge their way to exotic Singapore and confront the cunning Chinese Pirate Sao Feng (Chow Yun-Fat). Now headed beyond the very ends of the earth, each must ultimately choose a side in a final, titanic battle � as not only their lives and fortunes, but the entire future of the freedom-loving Pirate way, hangs in the balance.]]> http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/article/pirates_of_the_caribbean_3_trailer_is_here
Below is your chance to watch the brand new Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End trailer, or you can click here or on the pic above for a larger flash version as well as links to the Quicktime and Windows Media version.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End hits theaters on May 25, 2007. You can stills and more here.]]> http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/article/more_spidey_3_pics
On top of that you also get some new pics from Spider-Man 3 which include a blurry look at Venom. Yeah, you aren't even reading and already clicked away. Fine, be that way! For anyone that continued reading click here or on the teaser pic for DVDRama's gallery.]]> http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/article/pirates_of_the_caribbean_3_banner_and_posters
Yesterday we learned that the trailer for Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End will debut on March 19th and today we get seven new pieces of artwork to promote the film to add to our gallery. You can click on any one of the images to check out the gallery and the larger versions of each.

By the way, all of these are available to buy at AllPosters.com right now!

]]> http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/article/pirates_of_the_caribbean_3_trailer click here and keep it there as the clock counts down and the trailer will play once it hits 00:00:00.

Well, all of you out there speculating on why we haven't seen a trailer for Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End just yet can quit your worrying. Disney has announced that Pirates fans in cities across the U.S. will have a chance to be the first in the world to see the new trailer for the highly anticipated movie at a special nationwide �Pirates Ultimate Fan Event� on Sunday, March 18th. Fans are encouraged to log on to: Disney.com/piratesfanevent to win a chance to attend this exclusive event, which will be held at a select theater in each market. Those winners that come dressed in their finest pirates garb will be granted priority admission in each location.

For those of you not lucky enough to get in will have to wait until the next day, March 19th, when the trailer will premiere on that night's episode of ABC�s �Dancing with the Stars� (between 8-10 pm). Following the broadcast debut, the trailer will premiere online at 10:00 pm PST on Monday, March 19th, and you can believe that we will have the links ready for you to click!

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World�s End picks up where the record-breaking 2006 smash hit left off, with our heroes Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) allied with Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) in a desperate quest to free Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) from his mind-bending trap in Davy Jones� locker. With the terrifying ghost ship, The Flying Dutchman, and its commander Davy Jones under the control of the East India Trading Company, there is havoc on the Seven Seas. Navigating through treachery, betrayal and wild waters, the heroic trio must forge their way to exotic Singapore and confront the cunning Pirate Sao Feng (Chow Yun-Fat). Now headed beyond the very ends of the earth, each must ultimately choose a side in a final titanic battle � as not only their lives and fortunes, but the entire future of the freedom-loving Pirate way hangs in the balance. Produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and directed by Gore Verbinski from a screenplay written by Ted Elliott and#038; Terry Rossio, our beloved cast sets sail again on a fresh new adventure on May 25, 2007.

For more information click here.]]> http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/article/even_more_pirates_3_pics_leak_online
Good lord, I am shocked at how many images from Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End have shown up on line as DVDRama brings us six new looks.

The pic above is a teaser of Chow Yun Fat who plays Captain Sao Feng in the third film and of course below is the ever so sexy Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Swan. I don't care if she is anorexic or not, she's hot! Although I think Lena Heady may be her alter ego, just wait till you see Heady in 300! Huh---ooottt!

For now, click above or below to check out the pics. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End hits theaters on May 25, 2007.

]]> http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/article/pirates_4_talk_with_terry_rossio Moviehole has been doing a lot of rumors lately, but today they posted an exclusive interview with one of the Pirates of the Caribbean writers, Terry Rossio, and he talked not only what it is like having Keith Richards on set as he plays Captain Jack Sparrow's father in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End but also the possibility of more Pirates movies in the future as well as a couple of his other upcoming projects.

Here is a snippet from the interview:

Tell us how Keith Richards is faring over there?
Well, you don't hire Keith Richards to get a guy who shows up in the morning, on time, wearing a suit and tie. You get a guy who shows up at night, on time, with a bottle of wine. There were good times on the set.

Online rumors say this is the final 'Pirates' movie - but I'm sure Disney has other plans. What do you think? Any more 'Pirates' movies left in you?
It's like the fourth Indiana Jones picture - there are forces in play to make it happen, and forces in play to make it not happen. I think we will try to write a screenplay. I can't say if we'll be able to solve the challenge of making a good fourth film, or if our screenplay will be enough to get a film made.

You've been working with Sandra Bullock on a film called 'Jingle' - can we get an update on that?
Even the worst Christmas film does pretty well over the holidays, and we have a great Christmas film that nobody wants to make. Go figure.

What else have you got coming up in the near future?
Well, we've got Pirates III of course, and we're also helping out Bruckheimer with the National Treasure sequel. We [also] worked on a film coming up called The Spiderwick Chronicles. There's also a couple of producing projects -- one called Plant Life, a talking Plant movie, set up with Disney. But really what we want to do next is... a western!

I will say that I have not looked at them because I understand they spoil the movie, if that is something you want to do then click here. Otherwise... don't click there.]]> http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/article/two_official_pirates_of_the_caribbean_3_pics_arrive
I can hardly imagine anyone not knowing that Captain Barbossa returns to the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise at this point considering the damned movie has made a gazillion dollars in theaters and on DVD worldwide so I no longer consider the above picture a spoiler as Walt Disney has just sent RopeofSilicon the first two official images from the upcoming third chapter in the franchise Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End.

The first pic features Elizabeth Swan, Barbossa and Captain Jack as seen above and the other shows off Chow Yun Fat as he makes his debut in the franchise as Captain Sao Feng. The film follows Captain Barbossa, Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann as they must sail off the edge of the map, navigate treachery and betrayal, and make their final alliances for one last decisive battle.

To check out the pics click here or on the teaser above. Pirates 3 hits theaters May 25, 2007.]]>