I love the first Pirates of the Caribbean! And not just because it is the perfect blockbuster with its compelling adventurous charm, its loving design, its original humor, its stirring music and its beautiful ensemble of characters. I love the first “Pirates of the Caribbean,” especially because it is the closest thing to a movie adaptation of my absolute favorite video game to date: “Monkey Island.”
23 (!) years before “Pirates of the Caribbean” revived the pirate movie that had long since been written off in theaters with its very own and perfectly interlocking mix of the above ingredients, we got to see the point: and- click adventure “The Secret Of Monkey Island” from 1990, a lively, crazy pirate world including undead privateers and a main character who appears completely different from many classic “heroes”.
It’s no secret that ‘Monkey Island’ was partly inspired by the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ attraction at Disneyland’s theme parks, on which the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ films would later be officially based. Conversely, for “Pirates of the Caribbean” and its sequels, all kinds of elements were “borrowed” that could previously only be found in the “Monkey Island” series – from the villain to the tough governor/governor’s daughter to a coffin converted into a pedal boat ( which has resulted in many lawsuits by Disney).
On to the pirate adventure!
But it doesn’t matter who had which idea first: Captain (!) Jack Sparrow, Will Turner and Co. managed to conjure up exactly that pleasant cinematic feeling I had playing Guybrush Threepwood (and one of my first videos). games ever) to wreak havoc on the Caribbean with my offensive fencing skills (“How appropriate, you fight like a cow!”) and become a mighty pirate. On my first attempt at a (very!) young age I didn’t get far and often got lost in the loving copy protection (here pirate faces had to be combined on a turntable supplied with the game in such a way that a desired range of years came out, that were the days!).
The search for Monkey Island’s legendary secret fascinated me then – and even more so when I finally reached the titular island a few years later. And As with ‘Monkey Island’, I later wanted to explore every corner of the romanticized privateer world with Captain Jack and dive straight into the next adventure with the characters I had grown to love.
Ever weaker sequels
And in both cases this opportunity was not long in coming, albeit with varying degrees of success. While ‘Monkey Island’ certainly reinvented itself over and over again and I enjoyed every series entry in one way or another (part 3 is even on par with the opening for me), my enthusiasm for the ‘curse of the Caribbean’ franchise noticeably diminishes with each successive installment.
I had a lot of fun with “Pirates Of The Caribbean – Pirates of the Caribbean 2” (in fact, I haven’t seen any other movie more often in theaters so far). But “Pirates Of The Caribbean – At World’s End” did not do enough with its far too long running time of almost three hours, but after the open ending of part 2 it was still indispensable as a trilogy conclusion.
The last signs of wear appeared with part 4 (“Pirates Of The Caribbean – On Stranger Tides”) and were only reinforced by part 5 (“Pirates Of The Caribbean – Salazar’s Revenge”). For me, the series was long past its peak, and even the usual attack on Jack Sparrow couldn’t do anything anymore. Nevertheless, ‘Pirates of the Caribbean 6’ is probably inevitable. Although “Salazar’s Revenge” grossed about $250 million less worldwide than “On Stranger Tides” (“only” just under $800 million), the brand is simply too well known to leave alone.
“Pirates Of The Caribbean 6” and/or spin-off from Margot Robbie?
However, it doesn’t seem to be entirely clear yet about the direction the franchise should take in the future. On the one hand, the main series must continue (after all, ‘Chernobyl’ and ‘The Last Of Us’ creator Craig Mazin is working on the sequel, that sounds exciting!), and on the other hand, they are still working on a pirate story, spin -off with superstar Margot Robbie. It remains unclear whether series figurehead Johnny Depp will be part of any of the projects after his career was dampened by the sensational mud fight with his ex-wife Amber Heard.
Rather than trying at all costs to continue this already exhausted pirate franchise, the obvious alternative is, in my opinion, much more promising: just film the little “Pirates of the Caribbean” sister “Monkey Island”! Especially if Johnny Depp is no longer on board as the great role model/impersonator.
This way you can deliver a colorful pirate spectacle for the same target group that is still fresh on the big screen and sends a breath of fresh air across the seven seas. Especially because the ‘Monkey Island’ cosmos has even more sympathetic, bizarre characters in the now six serial parts and is even more diverse in terms of humor thanks to clever anachronistic allusions to modernity and all kinds of metagags.
Cheaper (and better?) Pirates of the Caribbean alternative
And those responsible for such an adaptation would not even compete with the Disney company “Pirates of the Caribbean” and should fear them, since the “Monkey Island” brand now also belongs to the Mouse House since it was bought out. by legendary games company LucasArts in 2012. In fact, ‘Monkey Island’ might even be a more cost-effective ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ take on Disney, if they didn’t have to constantly produce over-the-top action scenes or furious sea battles, which have caused major problems recently. the budget for “Pirates” has increased to over 300 (!) Millions of dollars.
On the contrary, ‘Monkey Island’ thrives on funny turns of phrase, characters bursting with charm, light-hearted adventurous flair – and of course, clever puzzles. Packaging the latter, at least partially, into film form without boring the audience is probably the greatest difficulty in any adaptation. But in an age where more and more love is being put into video game adaptations by writers and directors who actually know the original (see ‘The Last Of Us’ series for example), this would certainly be a challenge to master as well. .
It is best to take an example from ‘The Last Of Us’ and bring franchise father Ron Gilbert on board for a film adaptation of ‘Monkey Island’. It wasn’t until 2022 that he proved with the famous ‘Return To Monkey Island’ that he still has it and that the franchise is still close to his heart. And he could certainly translate this enthusiasm into a movie… so Hollywood, what are you waiting for?