...was the idea of adding Johnny Depp to Pirates Eisner's too? It was implemented in 2006, but was the decision made before he left?
Haven’t heard who officially decided that a move tie-in needed to be implemented, but here’s some background:
Eisner was
not on board for making
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. Hollywood hadn’t done well with any pirate film in recent memory, and he hated the idea even more of trying to turn one into a blockbuster with big names that would require big paychecks. There was a lot of fighting between the creatives and studio heads, which led to strained relationships. Eisner was very,
very surprised when the movie became such a big hit.
Pirates debuted summer of 2003. The financial success was a major win that Disney desperately needed with their live action films, as up until that point, that department had underperformed for several years. Eisner had been (and continued) dealing with a lot of drama at Disney. Many poor, costly decisions had been made over the years. That fall, Roy E. Disney quit the board and got together with Stanley Gold to start the Save Disney campaign. In March 2004, Disney’s shareholders let Eisner and the rest of the board know that they weren’t happy with his performance, which eventually led to him losing various titles and therefore a lot of his power at the company, to finally his early departure in 2005.
The film tie-ins debuted in the parks in June (DL) and July (MK) 2006 to coincide with the opening of
Dead Man’s Chest, not long after Bob Iger replaced Michael Eisner, and the rides were closed for only a few months. Iger had a lot that he wanted to focus on, and the first priority was to fix the relationship with Pixar. He has said that he generally likes to have whoever is the head of parks and resorts mostly in charge of that and not micromanage them. Whoever was in this position before Tom Staggs may have been the person to suggest the update, but I can’t seem to find their name. On the
Dead Man’s Chest DVD extras, there was a behind the scenes feature that went into the making of the changes. The one thing I do remember is Disney saying that guests kept asking why Captain Jack Sparrow wasn’t in the ride.
The person from Disney that made an official statement, though, was Tom Fitzgerald. From an article I found:
"Enhancing the classic Pirates attractions with new characters and new technology will ensure their relevance and place in Disney theme parks as timeless adventures," said Tom Fitzgerald, senior creative executive for Walt Disney Imagineering said in a statement. "We're adding a layer of storytelling from the films to the attraction while retaining all the familiar elements that make it vibrant and exciting for every age group."
This all took place during a lot of changes at the company. It’s very possible that someone wanted to impress their new boss.
en.wikipedia.org
