Walt Disney Studios 2006 Showcase
Page 5 of 6

A Pirates Life For Me
Dick regained control of the crowd by quickly rolling a Jerry Bruckheimer resume reel and introducing his current project: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead’s Man Chest. We were the first audience to see the completed trailer, and by all accounts, it was awesome. Scenes included the swampy shack setting from the first part of the attraction in Disneyland, the eerie squid-like Davey Jones and our favorite pirate, Captain Jack Sparrow roasting alive on a spit in a cannibal scene. In another scene Jack is being chased by a handful of natives down a beach while Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) comments, “We should wait for Captain Jack.�? Just then a thousand natives storm the beach, Will quickly turns to a shipmate and states, “Maybe we should just go then.�?

This alone would have satisfied any Disney fan worth their salt, but Dick wasn’t finished. As the logo burned into the screen and the trailer ended, the screen the trailer was projected on was backlit to show the stage behind it, now it was dressed like the dock of shipyard with barrels and a giant mast listing to one side. Fog seeped out toward the crowd as the screen went up. Alone in the top left corner of the stage, a pirate.

At this point I totally expected the presentation to wrap with a 50-man reenactment of “It’s a Pirate’s Life For Me.�? But instead as the lone pirate swaggered toward the front of the stage and his true identity was revealed: it was Johnny Depp, dressed as Captain Jack Sparrow and totally in character. The crowd went wild as applause flooded the theater for almost a full minute. Then after Mr. Depp gave the crowd a few nods of acknowledgement, Dick re-entered the stage, thanked the audience and hoped that we had enjoyed our day as he and Captain Jack led us to the cocktail hour. What did they serve? Rum and Coke, what else?

“That’s a Wrap!"
Sure Disney has struggled in recent years to find their way as 2D animations gives way to 3D, Chicken Little, American Dog and Meet the Robinsons show there are much brighter days ahead. The company should also be commended for taking a chance on a 3D movie rollout as ambitious as Chicken Little. And while their live action movie line-up isn’t as risky – they are still using tried and true formulas to “put butts in seats�? as they say in the biz – films like The Greatest game Ever Played and The Chronicles of Narnia, show they’re attempting a production quality and care that hasn’t been seen in a while. No amount of flash or star-power can disguise that. In all, it was an impressive line up of both stars and movie product topped off by a combination of both. A banner day for not only a Disney fan, but the sagging box office as well.