New Pirates of the Caribbean film scrapped by Disney

A new Pirates of the Caribbean film has been scrapped by Disney.

It was reported in 2020 that Margot Robbie would star in a female-fronted reboot of the hit franchise, which originally starred Johnny Depp.

Producer Jerry Bruckheimer, who worked on the original series, was attached to the project alongside Birds of Prey writer Christina Hodson.

However, Robbie has now revealed that the project is not moving forward.

“We had an idea and we were developing it for a while, ages ago, to have more of a female-led – not totally female-led – but just a different kind of story, which we thought would’ve been really cool,” the actor told Vanity Fair.

“But I guess they don’t want to do it,” she said, referencing Disney.

Pirates of the Caribbean is one of the most commercially successful franchises of all time, grossing over $4.5bn (£3.6bn) across five feature films. Robbie’s film was devised as an original story with brand new characters.

A sequel to the original franchise is also in the works without Depp, who played Captain Jack Sparrow.

The possibility of Depp returning to the franchise was the subject of testimony given during a defamation trial between the actor and his ex-wife Amber Heard in June 2022.

Depp was asked: “If Disney came to you with $300m dollars and a million alpacas, nothing on this earth would get you to go back and work with Disney on a Pirates of the Caribbean film?”

“That is true,” Depp answered.

Robbie’s most recent project was David O Russell flop Amsterdam, and she will next be seen in Babylon, the new film from Whiplash and La La Land director Damien Chazelle.

The Independent has conatcted Disney for comment.