海角大神

, which may or may not hold onto the previously-announced聽, has taken one step closer to becoming a reality, now that it has an official release date鈥� again. The film was once scheduled to hit theaters聽in July 2015, but for reasons 鈥� like,聽the need for additional development time and聽聽in response to Disney鈥檚 financial loss on聽Lone Ranger聽- it was instead put back on the shelf, with tentative plans for the film to arrive in Summer 2016 instead.

So why, then, is Johnny Depp鈥檚 (Captain) Jack Sparrow鈥檚 next adventure now not due for arrival聽until Summer 2017? Well, for one, after the fifth聽Pirates of the Caribbean聽movie was delayed, Depp filled up the empty space in his schedule with the聽gangster biopic聽聽(which is currently filming), and it looks as though he鈥檒l jump right into making聽聽for Disney soon after the former project completes production.

On a related note, with the聽Alice聽sequel already set to open during the 2016 Summer Movie Season, it makes sense that the Mouse House would instead save its聽other聽developing Depp-led tentpole for another summer 鈥� even if聽PotC 5directors Joachim R酶nning and Espen Sandberg聽had聽been able to make a 2016 date, that is. As it stands, the filmmakers (who made a name for themselves聽with the acclaimed indie sailing dramaKon-Tiki聽back in 2012) are currently preparing to begin shooting聽the next聽Pirates听补诲惫别苍迟耻谤别听聽鈥� according to producer Jerry Bruckheimer, anyway.

Disney now intends to release聽Pirates of the Caribbean 5聽in theaters on July 7th, 2017, to be exact, which is currently not being claimed for any other major feature; the 2017 Fourth of July holiday frame will undoubtedly become more crowded, though, over the next couple years. For now, however, Captain Jack鈥檚 new movie will open a week after聽聽鈥� which may draw away moviegoing families 鈥� and one week before the sequel to next year鈥檚聽聽movie reboot is currently due for arrival.

As much as the聽Pirates聽franchise has suffered from increasing amounts of creative fatigue聽with just about every new installment,聽these films remain extremely profitable (the fourth movie,聽On Stranger Tides, grossed over $1 billion worldwide) 鈥� hence, Disney isn鈥檛 giving up on the brand聽quite聽yet. Then again,聽as has been discussed in the past by聽, there is still room for further,聽interesting, exploration of the聽Pirates聽universe that could聽help to get more people excited about seeing this property live another day.

So who knows 鈥� maybe聽PotC 5聽will turn out to be聽the聽Fast Five聽of the聽Pirates聽franchise. We can dream, right?

Sandy Schaefer blogs at .