Pirates of the Caribbean

Two other uses|the franchise|other, more specific uses|Pirates of the Caribbean (disambiguation)|real pirates|Piracy in the Caribbean Pirates of the Caribbean is a multi-billion dollar Walt Disney franchise encompassing a theme park ride, a series of films and spinoff novels as well as numerous video games and other publications. As of August 2006, "Pirates of the Caribbean" attractions can be found at four Disney theme parks and their related films have grossed more than US$2.7 billion.

Theme park origins

"Pirates of the Caribbean" was envisioned in the late 1950s as a walk-through wax museum at Disneyland that would have featured depictions of real pirates in static scenes. Instead, Disney Imagineers utilized the technological breakthroughs achieved in the company's four pavilions at the 1964–65 World's Fair to transform the attraction into a boat ride through vivid environments filled with fictional Audio-Animatronic pirates sacking a Caribbean seaport. Its theme song, "Yo Ho (A Pirate's Life for Me)", sets a light-hearted tone for characters who were violent criminals in reality.

The last Disney theme park attraction designed with input from Walt Disney, it opened in its original form in New Orleans Square at Disneyland on March 18, 1967. Since then, it has been replicated in different forms at three subsequent Disney theme parks—Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World Resort (December 15, 1973), Tokyo Disneyland (April 15, 1983) and Disneyland Paris (April 12, 1992).

Films

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Video games

Eidos Interactive's "" included a level in which players can race water boats at the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction in Walt Disney World.

Originally entitled "Sea Dogs II", "Pirates of the Caribbean" was released in 2003 by Bethesda Softworks to coincide with the release of "". Although it had no relation to the characters, it features the movie's storyline about cursed Aztec gold and undead pirates, and it was the first of several games to be inspired by the attraction.

"" by Bethesda Softworks, had players assuming the role of Captain Jack Sparrow (voiced by Johnny Depp). The game is set prior to the first movie, as players explore the stories that made Captain Jack Sparrow a legend.

Disney later moved to develop "Pirates of the Caribbean Multiplayer Mobile" for mobile phones and a massively multiplayer online role playing game entitled "Pirates of the Caribbean Online", which was released in Fall 2007.

Pirates of the Caribbean was also featured in Square Enix's "Kingdom Hearts II". The level takes place during the events of the film, with movie characters such as Jack Sparrow, Elizabeth Swann, Will Turner, and Captain Barbossa making appearances. The story is modified to fit the "Kingdom Hearts II" storyline.

Another video game was "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" for Game Boy Advance (Nintendo) and a few others. This game is based on Captain Jack Sparrow's misadventures in the pursuit of saving Ria Anasagasti with his ship mate Will Turner.

Another video game, "", was released for the Nintendo DS, Playstation Portable, Game Boy Advance and others.

Another video game entitled "" was released on May 22, 2007 and was based on the film of the same name which was released on May 25, 2007. It was the first game in the series to be released for a next-gen console.

Adaptations

Several additional works have been inspired by the original attraction:
* A computer game (by Akella), loosely connected to the plot of "".
* Port Royal, a world including themes from the "Pirates of the Caribbean" films, appears in the Square Enix video game "Kingdom Hearts II".
*In 2000, "Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for Buccaneer Gold", opened at DisneyQuest at Florida's Walt Disney World Resort. The attraction allows up to five players to board a virtual pirate ship and attempt to sink other ships with water cannons.
*Ron Gilbert often has said that the "Monkey Island" computer game series was inspired by the "Pirates of the Caribbean" attraction (and vice versa he believes, upon seeing the new movie), although he has said that he mainly got his inspiration from Tim Powers' book On Stranger Tides. Within both the film and the adventure game is a key-carrying dog named Walt, whose name is a nod to Walt Disney.
*A "Pirates of the Caribbean" board game Monopoly is manufactured by USAopoly.
*A "Pirates of the Caribbean" version of the board game Battleship is produced by Hasbro under the title of Battleship Command.
*"Pirates of the Caribbean" was the name of a team participating in the 2005-2006 Volvo Ocean Race. Their boat was named the "Black Pearl." [cite web|url=http://www.volvooceanrace.org/teamnews/piratesofthecaribbean/index.aspx?bhcp=1 |title=Team News: Pirates of the Caribbean |publisher=Volvo Ocean Race |accessdate=2006-08-03]
*A Pirates of the Caribbean multiplayer online game was released by Disney on Oct. 31, 2007 [cite web|url=http://disney.go.com/pirates/online |title=Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean Online |publisher=Disney |accessdate=2007-10-31]

ee also

* Geography of Pirates of the Caribbean

References

External links

* [http://pirates.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page Pirates of the Caribbean Wiki] - Pirates.wikia.com
* [http://potc-wiki.com/index.php?title=Main_Page Pirates of the Caribbean Online wiki] - PotC-Wiki.com
* [http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/pirates/ Official Disney Website For Pirates of the Caribbean]