Impulse2000 14:38, 8 April 2008 (UTC)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

Main article: Pirates of the Caribbean (theme park ride) 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 what were seen as 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). [edit] Films Main article: Pirates of the Caribbean films Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End [edit] Video games Main article: Pirates of the Caribbean video games Eidos Interactive's Walt Disney World Quest: Magical Racing Tour 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 Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. 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. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow 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, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, was released for the Nintendo DS, Playstation Portable, Game Boy Advance and others. Another video game entitled Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End was released on May 22, and was based on the film of the same name which was released on May 25. It was the first game in the series to be released for a next-gen console. [edit] Adaptations Several additional works have been inspired by the original attraction: A computer game (by Akella), loosely connected to the plot of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. 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 Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge adventure game is a key-carrying dog named Walt, whose name is a nod to Walt Disney. A Pirates of the Caribbean special edition of Monopoly is manufactured by USAopoly. A Pirates of the Caribbean version of the board game Battleship (game) 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." [1] A Pirates of the Caribbean free massively multiplayer online game was released by Disney on Oct. 31, 2007 [2] [edit] External links Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Pirates of the CaribbeanPirates of the Caribbean Wiki - Pirates.wikia.com Pirates of the Caribbean Online wiki - PotC-Wiki.com Official Disney Website For Pirates of the Caribbean [hide]v • d • eWalt Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean Theme Park Attractions Pirates of the Caribbean • Pirate's Lair at Tom Sawyer Island Films The Curse of the Black Pearl • Dead Man's Chest • At World's End • Future film development Cast Johnny Depp • Orlando Bloom • Keira Knightley • Geoffrey Rush • Jack Davenport • Bill Nighy • Jonathan Pryce • Lee Arenberg • Mackenzie Crook • Stellan Skarsgård • Chow Yun-Fat • Kevin McNally • Naomie Harris • Tom Hollander Video games Pirates of the Caribbean • The Legend of Jack Sparrow • Dead Man's Chest • Pirates of the Caribbean Online • Pirates of the Caribbean Multiplayer Mobile • At World's End • Music Yo Ho (A Pirate's Life for Me) • Dead Man's Chest • Hoist the Colours • Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack • The Curse of the Black Pearl soundtrack • Pirates Remixed • Dead Man's Chest soundtrack • At World's End soundtrack • At World's End Remixes • Pirates of the Caribbean: Soundtrack Treasures Collection Organizations East India Trading Co. • Royal Navy • Brethren Court Primary characters Jack Sparrow • Will Turner • Elizabeth Swann • Hector Barbossa • James Norrington • Davy Jones • Cutler Beckett Other characters and creatures Bootstrap Bill Turner • Sao Feng • Joshamee Gibbs • Tia Dalma • Pintel and Ragetti • The Kraken • Weatherby Swann • Captain Teague • Minor characters • Prequel characters Ships Black Pearl • Flying Dutchman • Interceptor • Minor ships • Ships in prequel series Merchandise Jack Sparrow (Prequel novels) • Trading Card Game • Pinball machine • Video Games • Other Music • Pirate code of the Brethren • Geography • Dead Man's Chest Impulse2000 14:38, 8 April 2008 (UTC)Impulse2000Impulse2000 14:38, 8 April 2008 (UTC)