How Many Pirates of the Caribbean Movies Are There?

There are five Pirates of the Caribbean movies, and all five are main saga films that Disney released in theaters between 2003 and 2017. The series began as a film version of the Disneyland attraction that debuted in 1967. Disney has not released a sixth film, so the count has held at five since Dead Men Tell No Tales reached theaters in May 2017.

The five films share one lead and three directing credits. Gore Verbinski directed the first three, Rob Marshall directed the fourth, and Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg directed the fifth. The table lines up the basics, and the pirates of the caribbean movies hub carries the full film grid.

Budgets and grosses come from Box Office Mojo, and runtimes come from Box Office Mojo and TMDB. If you want the full money story, the pirates of the caribbean box office page breaks down domestic and international totals.

The five movies are The Curse of the Black Pearl, Dead Man's Chest, At World's End, On Stranger Tides and Dead Men Tell No Tales. Each summary below covers the setup only.

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), directed by Gore Verbinski, opens with Governor Swann pulling a boy named Will Turner from a shipwreck. Years later in Port Royal, the cursed crew of the Black Pearl, led by Captain Barbossa, carries off Elizabeth Swann because she wears Will's medallion. Will, now a blacksmith, teams up with the eccentric Jack Sparrow to chase the Pearl. It premiered at Disneyland on June 28, 2003, opened in US theaters on July 9, 2003, and Klaus Badelt composed the score.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006), also directed by Gore Verbinski, starts at a wedding that Lord Cutler Beckett breaks up with arrest warrants. Jack learns he owes a debt to Davy Jones, played by Bill Nighy, and carries the Black Spot that summons the Kraken. It grossed $1.07 billion worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo, and Hans Zimmer took over the music.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007), Verbinski's third, finds Beckett controlling the seas and forcing Davy Jones to sink pirate ships. Jack is trapped in Davy Jones' Locker, so Barbossa, Will, Elizabeth, Tia Dalma and the Pearl crew travel to Singapore to ask the pirate lord Sao Feng for the charts. It has the largest budget of the five at $300 million and the longest runtime at 169 minutes.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011), directed by Rob Marshall, is set around 1750, when Britain and Spain race to find the Fountain of Youth. Jack ends up aboard the Queen Anne's Revenge, the ship of Blackbeard, played by Ian McShane, and meets Angelica, played by Penélope Cruz. Barbossa is also in the hunt, now serving the British Crown.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017), directed by Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg, follows Henry Turner, the son of Will Turner, who believes the Trident of Poseidon could free his father from the Flying Dutchman. The undead Captain Armando Salazar, played by Javier Bardem, comes for Jack from the ghost ship Silent Mary, and the astronomer Carina Smyth, played by Kaya Scodelario, crosses Jack's path. The world premiere was in Shanghai on May 11, 2017, and it is the shortest of the five at 129 minutes.

Yes, Johnny Depp plays Jack Sparrow in all five films and is billed first in every one. Kevin McNally also appears as Gibbs in all five, which makes him the other constant among the top billed cast. Geoffrey Rush plays Barbossa in the first, third, fourth and fifth films. For the full line up, see the pirates of the caribbean cast and pirates of the caribbean characters pages.

Yes, the five films form one saga, and the release order and chronological order are the same. The first three follow Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann alongside Jack, with Davy Jones and Beckett as the main threats in the second and third. On Stranger Tides works like a new season of a television show: Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley are not in its top billed cast, and Jack meets Blackbeard and Angelica instead. Dead Men Tell No Tales loops back by building its story around Henry Turner, and Bloom and Knightley return in it. The pirates of the caribbean timeline walks through the events, and pirates of the caribbean movies in order gives both viewing orders. Two threads that run through the saga have their own pages: pirates of the caribbean ships and pirates of the caribbean curses.

The saga grew at a startling pace and then pulled back, and the budget column shows it. The Curse of the Black Pearl cost $140 million, while At World's End reached $300 million, more than double. Screen Daily reports that At World's End was shot back to back with Dead Man's Chest, and in my opinion that is why the second and third films play like one long story: the Kraken hunting Jack in the first half becomes a crew sailing to Singapore to ask Sao Feng for the charts to Davy Jones' Locker in the second. Dead Man's Chest also won the Oscar for Best Visual Effects, according to D23, with Bill Nighy's motion capture performance as Davy Jones doing much of that work.

On Stranger Tides is the odd one out, and it could be argued that it is the most international of the five. It earned about $806 million overseas and about $241 million in the US, the largest international share of the series on a $250 million budget, and CGW notes it was shot with 3D cameras. Dead Men Tell No Tales went the other way: production began in Queensland in February 2015 at Village Roadshow Studios, according to Screen Daily, and it took about $173 million domestically against about $623 million abroad. Paradoxically, the shortest film, at 129 minutes, is 40 minutes tighter than At World's End, and for a first time viewer that makes it the easiest of the later films to sit through in one evening. That being said, the first film remains the cleanest entry point, because it carries no debts to earlier plots.

Yes, Pirates of the Caribbean 4 is On Stranger Tides, released in the US on May 20, 2011. It was directed by Rob Marshall and runs 136 minutes, with a $250 million budget and $1.05 billion worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo. Hans Zimmer returned as composer, and the soundtrack album includes the track Angelica, featuring Rodrigo y Gabriela. The pirates of the caribbean soundtrack page covers the composers across all five films.

A sixth film is in development, but Disney has not announced a cast, a release date or a greenlight. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer said in March 2024, as reported by NBC News, that the next film would be a reboot. In August 2026 at Disney's D23 event, he said the team is talking with Johnny Depp and working on a screenplay, according to TheWrap and Gulf News.

Several other reports remain unconfirmed. Depp has said he is open to one more film to "send them off on a better note" but has not confirmed he has signed on, and Gulf News reports Jeff Nathanson as the writer. In 2020 Disney was reportedly developing a Margot Robbie led reboot, and Robbie said in 2022 that Disney was no longer interested in a female led film. For status updates, see pirates of the caribbean 6 and the pirates of the caribbean 6 trailer page.

The five films run 728 minutes in total, which is 12 hours and 8 minutes, from 129 minutes for the shortest to 169 minutes for the longest. All five carry the same age ratings: PG-13 in the US, 12A in the UK and M in Australia, according to TMDB. As for streaming, all five are on Disney Plus in the US, UK and Australia, based on JustWatch data via TMDB checked on November 3, 2026, and the where to watch pirates of the caribbean page lists the rent and buy options.

If you want an opinion on which film is best, pirates of the caribbean movies ranked makes the case, and the pirates of the caribbean reviews page collects our verdicts. Collectors can start with pirates of the caribbean merchandise, and anyone new to the saga should begin with the first film.