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Pirates Sequel Swashbuckles the Others

The sequel to the first ?Pirates of the Caribbean? movie has been one of the fastest to earn 300 million dollars since its release, marking the franchise as being one of Disney?s most successful in modern memory. There used to be a time when the cash cow for Disney was the cartoons produced by the studio, which told time-old tales in a new way that reached families all around the world. But since the advent of new computer graphics technology, Disney and other film companies have spent millions acquiring or merging with groups like Pixar to set themselves up for the future.

And in the meantime, live action films have still managed to help Disney along. Disney has not always been portrayed in a positive light due to boardroom intrigue, but with the departure of Michael Eisner and his replacement seeming to have a firm grip on things, the long-standing Disney tradition of success with family-friendly fare ? and sometimes, as in the ?Pirates? series, not so family friendly but still in some sense magical, will likely bring Disney the sort of financial security it needs and desires in a highly competitive market.

Some live-action films produced by Disney have been demographically limited ? an example would be the ?Princess Diaries? movies, which obviously targeted girls but which families could see together ? if the boys were okay with it. One of the advantages of movies like ?Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man?s Chest? is that it appeals to a broad spectrum of viewers: old and young, male and female, and so on. Will the third ?Pirates? film shatter the record of the second? Wait for 2007!