

The Curse of the Black Pearl was also nominated for four other Academy Awards and BAFTAs. Depp won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role and earned him nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actor, BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, and Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. The film has been widely seen as the film that launched Depp as a box office leading man after many years as a cult movie star.

It received generally positive reviews from critics the film was praised for the performances (particularly from Depp), action sequences, writing, score, and visuals. Despite low expectations, the film was a huge box office success, grossing over $654 million worldwide making it the fourth highest-grossing film of 2003. The film's world premiere was held at Disneyland Park in Anaheim, California on June 28, 2003. It was also significant in being the first film released under the Walt Disney Pictures banner to be rated PG-13 by the MPAA. Filming took place from October 2002 to March 2003 in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and on sets constructed around Los Angeles, California. Around that time, producer Jerry Bruckheimer became involved in the project he had Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio work on the script, adding the plot device of a supernatural curse to the story to bring it in line with the original theme park ride.


Jay Wolpert developed a script in 2001, and Stuart Beattie rewrote it in early 2002. The story follows pirateJack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) and blacksmithWill Turner (Orlando Bloom) as they rescue the kidnapped Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) from the cursed crew of the Black Pearl, captained by Hector Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush), who become undead skeletons at night. Produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Jerry Bruckheimer, the film is based on Walt Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean attraction at Disney theme parks. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl is a 2003 American fantasyswashbuckler film directed by Gore Verbinski and the first film in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series.
