Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011)

The plot of On Stranger Tides sends Captain Jack Sparrow into a race for the Fountain of Youth around 1750, when Britain and Spain are both hunting for it. Jack is dragged into the hunt and ends up forced aboard the Queen Anne's Revenge, the ship of the feared pirate Blackbeard. There he meets Angelica, a former love of his who is also Blackbeard's daughter. Blackbeard needs a special ritual to use the Fountain, and that ritual calls for two silver chalices and the tear of a mermaid. Hector Barbossa is chasing the same prize, now serving the British Crown.

This is the fourth film in the saga, so it follows at worlds end in both release order and chronological order (the full sequence sits on the pirates of the caribbean movies in order page). Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley, who played Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann in the first three films, do not appear in the cast, and Gore Verbinski, who directed those three, handed the job to Rob Marshall. The whole saga began as a Disneyland ride that debuted in 1967, and it reached the screen with curse of the black pearl (2003). That makes this the first film to send Jack on a fresh quest under a new director.

Yes, loosely. The film draws on Tim Powers's 1987 novel On Stranger Tides, whose rights Disney bought in 2007, and Terry Rossio and Ted Elliott wrote the screenplay. If you are searching for the book, look for Powers's name, because the movie follows it only in part and the saga as a whole grew out of the theme park attraction rather than a novel.

On Stranger Tides held its world premiere at Disneyland Park on May 7, 2011, billed as the first outdoor 3D film premiere, with proceeds going to Boys & Girls Clubs of America. Holding it at the park fits the saga's origin as a Disneyland attraction, and the earlier films followed the same pattern: The Curse of the Black Pearl premiered at Disneyland on June 28, 2003 and Dead Man's Chest on June 24, 2006.

The public release rolled out over three days. The UK opened on May 18, 2011, Australia on May 19 and the US on May 20. The film is rated PG-13 in the US, 12A in the UK and M in Australia.

On the box office, Box Office Mojo lists $241 million domestic and $806 million international for a worldwide total of $1.05 billion on a $250 million budget. Roughly three quarters of the gross came from outside the US. That makes it the second highest grossing of the five main films, behind only Dead Man's Chest, while its domestic figure is the lowest of the first four films. The full comparison is on the pirates of the caribbean box office page.

On Stranger Tides was filmed in four regions: Hawaii, the Los Angeles area, Puerto Rico and the London area. Hawaii supplied the jungles, beaches and sea scenes, with Ke'e Beach and the Blue Cave on Kauai among the named spots, across Kauai and Oahu.

In the Los Angeles area, the Whitecap Bay water set was built at Universal's Falls Lake, and the HMS Surprise scenes were shot off Long Beach. Puerto Rico covered the Spanish fort scenes in Old San Juan, plus a small island shoot near Fajardo.

The English leg used real heritage sites and studio sets. The Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich and Hampton Court Palace stood in for the royal side of the story, and Pinewood Studios hosted sets including the Fountain of Youth.

The most useful On Stranger Tides trivia is about how the film was built, because the production was unusually physical for a CG heavy fantasy.

• Principal photography ran 106 days, from June 14 to November 18, 2010.
• The film was shot in digital 3D with paired RED cameras, one shooting through a mirror.
• The Fountain of Youth set on Pinewood's 007 Stage took three months to build and held about 1.5 million gallons of water.
• Synchronized swimmers in tracking suits were filmed to animate the CG mermaids.
• Keith Richards returned as Captain Teague.
• Rodrigo y Gabriela contributed to Zimmer's score, and Eric Whitacre wrote choir cues.
• Among the five main films, only Dead Man's Chest grossed more worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo.
• The ride that started the saga debuted at Disneyland in 1967, and this film's world premiere was held at Disneyland Park.

If you want to see where it lands against its siblings, the pirates of the caribbean movies ranked page covers that, and the pirates of the caribbean movies hub lists every film.