The 5th installment of Pirates of the Caribbean has been delayed beyond its planned 2015 release.
Disney’s Pirates of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, which sees Johnny Depp returning for his fifth appearance as Captain Jack Sparrow, was expected to go into production next year.
Producer Jerry Bruckheimer told the Hollywood Reporter issues with the script and budget caused the delay.
Jerry Bruckheimer said he was now targeting a summer 2016 release.
“We have an outline everyone loves but the script is not done,” he said.
The producer added: “We want a script that everyone’s signed off on and a budget that everyone’s signed off on.”
The delay follows the poor performance by Disney’s much anticipated summer film The Lone Ranger, also starring Johnny Depp, which earned just $29 million in its opening weekend in the US.
The film, which reportedly cost $215 million to make, has grossed $243 million worldwide to date.
Disney warned the film would amount to losses of between $160 million-$190 million after heavy spending on promotion failed to bring returns.
Jerry Bruckheimer said coming up with a great script was “always hard,” and after this summer – which saw several blockbuster films perform poorly – “everybody’s more cautious”.
The most recent Pirates installments, At World’s End and On Stranger Tides, were both released in time for Memorial Day weekend in September 2007 and 2011.
Disney previously announced the fifth Pirates film will be directed by Kon-Tiki filmmakers Joachim Ronning and Espen Sandberg.
The four films in the franchise have grossed a combined total of $3.7 billion worldwide, making Pirates Of The Caribbean the fifth biggest film franchise ever.
