Deadline reports that Disney’s upcoming reboot of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise has entered dangerous territory as Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, the scribes of the acclaimed Deadpool franchise, have exited the project.
This success spawned four sequels which, though generally declined in critical reception, were still for the most part box office hits, with the second and fourth installments grossing over $1 billion each at the global box office.
The studio has been looking for a way to keep the franchise alive following the fifth installment in 2017 which, though ranked as the second lowest-grossing entry in the series globally and the lowest grossing domestically, grossed an impressive $794 million worldwide at the box office.
In addition to the upcoming projects, they’ve been behind a number of critical and commercial hits including the Deadpool franchise and the 2009 zombie comedy Zombieland, which will be celebrating its tenth anniversary this year with a long-awaited and highly-anticipated sequel featuring the original cast.