Early in 2018, rumours sprouted that Johnny Depp had been dropped as Jack Sparrow from the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. The news has since been confirmed by Disney’s live-action production chief Sean Bailey. The Hollywood Reporter asked him: “You've hired Deadpool scribes, Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, to work on a possible Pirates of the Caribbean reboot. Can Pirates survive without Johnny Depp?” Bailey replied: “We want to bring in a new energy and vitality.”
He added: “I love the [Pirates] movies, but part of the reason Paul and Rhett are so interesting is that we want to give it a kick in the pants. And that's what I've tasked them with.”
And now Forbes are reporting that Disney have saved $90 million by dropping Depp, which is his reported salary per Pirates of the Caribbean movie in recent years.
The outlet writes: “The hard-to-imagine is here: nobody's thinking about
