Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End is a 2007 adventure film and the third in the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy. The trilogy was initiated by the 2003's Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl which was followed by the 2006 billion dollar success, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. At World's End is directed by Gore Verbinski, the director of the previous two films. The film's cast includes returnees Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley, Bill Nighy, Geoffrey Rush, Jack Davenport, Tom Hollander and Naomie Harris. Chow Yun-Fat makes his first appearance in the franchise as Captain Sao Feng, one of the film's antagonists. Keith Richards also makes an appearance as Jack Sparrow's father. Disney has announced a global release date of May 25, 2007 but also a day early release date of May 24 which is not global.

Plot
Do not add speculation. Provide a citation for actual plot points. At the conclusion of Dead Man's Chest, Will Turner, Elizabeth Swann, and company find refuge with Tia Dalma, who offers them the opportunity to rescue Captain Jack Sparrow from Davy Jones' Locker. She says they will need a captain, "who knows those waters," prompting the reappearance of Captain Barbossa, killed by Jack Sparrow in the first film and who has been resurrected. In the third film, the crew travel to Singapore to steal a navigational chart from the Chinese pirate Sao Feng, which will lead them to the World's End. They journey through a frozen ocean before sailing over an enormous waterfall and into Davy Jones' Locker. While imprisoned there, Jack Sparrow is confronted with the many facets of his character before being rescued by Will, Elizabeth and the crew. Despite their mutual animosity and distrust, Sparrow and Barbossa form an alliance when they discover a more sinister threat has arisen; Cutler Beckett, who now possesses the heart of Davy Jones, has begun purging piracy with the commanded assistance of Jones and the Flying Dutchman. The world's pirates gather for a meeting known as the Brethren of the Coast, consisting of nine pirate lords, including Sao Feng, as the stage is set for a climactic battle between pirates, Davy Jones and his henchmen, the Royal Navy, and the East India Trading Company at an enormous whirlpool.

Production
Parts of the third film were shot during location filming of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest in 2005. A large tank was used in the Bahamas for filming scenes involving ships at sea, where most of the film takes place. Production of Dead Man's Chest ended March 2006. Filming was unusual in that whilst shooting, the writers Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio had not finished the script. According to the writers, the rushing to complete it helped the actors give more spontaneous performances. When the first fifty-seven pages of the script's early draft were leaked onto the Internet, they were quickly removed by Disney. Cowriter Ted Elliott stated on Disney's official Pirates of the Caribbean message board that, "there's already significant differences," between the early draft and actual shooting.

Keith Richards, who was partially Johnny Depp's inspiration for his character, was cast as Jack Sparrow's father. Richards was finally confirmed by Verbinski to be joining the third film on June 23 2006. Actor Bill Nighy said Richards filmed his scenes drunk. Filming resumed on August third and continued until early 2007 for seventy days off the California coast. Stage twelve of the Universal backlot was used for the floating Singapore set. Other locations included the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah and Niagara Falls.

A Disney representative denied that At World's End would be the title of the third film in July 2006, but on August 31 Rossio confirmed that the third film's title would be At World's End after all. Filming finished in January 2007. and the first assembly cut was three hours.

Cast

 * Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow: Tricked into being swallowed by the Kraken in the previous film to save the crew, Sparrow is now trapped in Davy Jones' Locker. There he remains until a rescue party arrives, whereupon he returns to the living world to battle his nemesis, Davy Jones.
 * Orlando Bloom as Will Turner: A blacksmith turned pirate, and the son of the pirate "Bootstrap Bill" Turner. Bootstrap is working on the Flying Dutchman under direct control of Davy Jones who owns Bill's soul and Will hopes to free him, as well as to marry Elizabeth Swann.
 * Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Swann: The Governor's daughter who was engaged to Will Turner, with a love of adventure. She tricked Jack into being swallowed by the Kraken in the previous film to save the crew, however it appears that she may love him. This threatens her relationship with Will greatly.
 * Geoffrey Rush as Captain Hector Barbossa: The former first mate, and later captain, of the Black Pearl, he led a mutiny against Captain Jack Sparrow eleven years earlier. Although killed by Sparrow at the end of the first film, a resurrected Barbossa returns to lead The Black Pearl crew to World's End to rescue Sparrow.
 * Chow Yun-Fat as Captain Sao Feng: The Pirate Lord of Singapore, he captains the Chinese ship The Empress. "Sao Feng" (嘯風) means "Howling Wind" in Chinese.
 * Bill Nighy provides motion capture and the voice for Davy Jones: The ghostly ruler of the ocean depths and captain of The Flying Dutchman, to whom Sparrow owed a blood debt. His heart was stolen by James Norrington, and as a result, he is in the service of Lord Cutler Beckett.
 * Jack Davenport as Admiral James Norrington: He is in an alliance with Lord Beckett and the East India Trading Company after stealing the heart of Davy Jones and bargaining it to Cutler Beckett for his career. He is also Elizabeth's former fiancé.
 * Stellan Skarsgård as "Bootstrap Bill" Turner: Will Turner's father, he is cursed to serve an eternity aboard The Flying Dutchman.
 * Tom Hollander as Lord Cutler Beckett: The principal antagonist; chairman of the East India Trading Company. He possesses Davy Jones' heart, and thus in control of the seven seas.
 * Kevin McNally as Joshamee Gibbs: Sparrow's loyal first mate. He has a slight drinking problem
 * Naomie Harris as Tia Dalma: A witch who travels with the former Black Pearl crew to rescue Sparrow. She raised Barbossa from the dead at the end of Dead Man's Chest. She is more powerful than the crew realizes.
 * Lee Arenberg as Pintel: A slightly mischievous, stolid member of Sparrow's crew.
 * Mackenzie Crook as Ragetti: A superstitious, scarecrow-like member of Sparrow's crew, having a wooden eye.
 * Jonathan Pryce as Governor Weatherby Swann: Governor of Port Royal, Jamaica. He is Elizabeth's father and is trapped in Beckett's service.
 * Keith Richards as Captain Teague: Jack's father.

Marketing
At the 2006 San Diego Comic-Con International, two minutes of footage was shown including Captain Jack Sparrow having to convince the crew to run back and forth on the shipdeck to rock a ship over and a fight between Sparrow and Davy Jones on top of a crow's nest in a storm. After a muted publicity campaign, the trailer finally debuted at ShoWest 2007. It was shown on March 18, 2007 at a special screening of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl named "Pirates Ultimate Fan Event". The trailer was shown on March 19 during Dancing with the Stars and debuted online afterwards.

Action figures by NECA are set for release in late April. Board games such as a Collectors Edition Chess Set, Monopoly Game and Pirates Dice Game (Liar's Dice) are set for release. Master Replicas have made sculptures of characters and replicas of jewelery and the Dead Man's Chest. A video game with the same title as the film is scheduled for release on May 22 2007 on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, PSP, PlayStation 2, PC and Nintendo DS formats.

The world premiere of the film will be held on May 19, 2007, at Disneyland, home of the ride that inspired the movie and where the first two films in the trilogy debuted. Disneyland is offering the general public a chance to attend the premiere through the sale of tickets, priced at $1,500 each, with proceeds going to the Make-A-Wish Foundation charity.

In response to the massive weekend box office revenue of Spider-Man 3, Walt Disney Pictures decided to move the USA opening of At World's End from Friday, May 25, 2007 to Thursday at 8:00pm, May 24, 2007. This action was taken after seeing that Spider-Man 3 's weekend revenue grow to a massive $151.1 million, beating At World's End 's predecessor, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest 's record of $139 million. By studying the statistics, they concluded that Spider-Man 3 's great success must have been due to its early showings at Midnight Friday, May 5, 2007.

Sequel
Screenwriters Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio have said they can only focus on creating a trilogy from the first film, and look forward to finishing the sequels. They do admit whilst a fourth film may happen, it is more likely that "for right now, the trilogy is designed to come to a conclusion." Johnny Depp stated that he would love to play Jack Sparrow for another trilogy "if they had a good script."

In February 2007, after filming was completed, Terry Rossio said they may try to write a screenplay, though "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." Director Gore Verbinski is aware that Walt Disney Pictures would like to keep the franchise going, but regarding his involvement, feels, "The big danger is diminishing the brand... it would have to be a tale worthy of telling." Producer Jerry Bruckheimer was indicated interest in a spin-off.