Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

***Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl*** is a 2003 movie from Walt Disney Pictures. It is the first film of the _Pirates of the Caribbean_ movie series.

Audiences and film critics gave the movie good reviews. It became one of the highest-grossing movies in cinema history.

## Story

When the movie begins, a young girl named Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) is on a ship with her father, who is the major of a British colony in the Caribbean. Elizabeth sees a boy in the water. The crew of the ship saves him. He is named Will Turner (Orlando Bloom). Elizabeth finds a chain around his neck with a golden medallion. This leads her to believe that Will is a pirate. She takes the medallion and keeps it.

Eight years later, Elizabeth has grown up, and her father is now governor of Port Royal. James Norrington, a commodore in the Royal Navy, proposes to her. She accepts, even though she is in love with Will Turner, who is her father's blacksmith.

When James Norrington proposes to her, she faints (seemingly overcome by Norrington's proposal, but actually because her corset was too tight and she could not breathe). She falls off the ledge into the water below. Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) sees her fall and rescues her. Nevertheless, James Norrington believes Sparrow should be arrested. Jack then threatens Elizabeth's life, and tries to escape. However, Will Turner stops his escape and Sparrow is taken to prison.

That night, the cursed crew of the _Black Pearl_ attack Port Royal and kidnap Elizabeth. Jack Sparrow escapes from prison. He steals a ship to travel to Tortuga, a pirate port where he hopes to assemble a crew and find treasure. Will Turner goes with him to rescue Elizabeth. On their journey to Tortuga, Will finds out that his father was a pirate.

Elizabeth, on board the _Black Pearl_, learns that the crew is under the curse of a chest of Aztec gold. They need the blood of each crew member to break the curse. However, a single member of the crew, named Bootstrap Bill, was killed. To escape the curse, the crew still needs his blood - or the blood of his descendant. Believing that Elizabeth descended from Bootstrap Bill, the crew plans to spill her blood on the chest of Aztec gold in hopes to break the curse.

Will secretly takes Elizabeth to safety while the zombies of the _Black Pearl_ invade a British ship positioned not far from the land. There is an epic fight between the zombies, the British, Jack Sparrow (the former captain of the _Black Pearl_), Captain Barbossa (the current captain), Will Turner, Elizabeth Swan, and some leftover zombies.

Jack Sparrow uses the one shot in his weapon to shoot Captain Barbossa. At the same time, Will cuts himself and puts his blood on the Aztec Gold, breaking the curse. The zombies were now humans, and Jack's gunshot wounded Captain Barbossa.

The British win the fight against the zombies that are now humans. Jack Sparrow is captured by the British, but Will Turner saves him from lynching and Jack escapes with the _Black Pearl_.

## Cast

- Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow
- Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Swann
- Orlando Bloom as Will Turner
- Jack Davenport as James Norrington
- Geoffrey Rush as Hector Barbossa
- Jonathan Pryce as Weatherby Swann

## Related pages

- _Pirates of the Caribbean_
- _Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest_
- _Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End_

## Infobox (movie)

- **name**: Pirates of the Caribbean:
 The Curse of the Black Pearl
- **director**: Gore Verbinski
- **producer**: Jerry Bruckheimer
- **based on**: Walt Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean (attraction), Pirates of the Caribbean
- **screenplay**: Ted Elliott
Terry Rossio
- **story**: Ted Elliott
Terry Rossio
Stuart Beattie
Jay Wolpert
- **starring**: Johnny Depp
Geoffrey Rush
Orlando Bloom
Keira Knightley
Jack Davenport
Kevin McNally
Zoe Saldana
Jonathan Pryce
- **music**: Klaus Badelt
- **cinematography**: Dariusz Wolski
- **editing**: Stephen E. Rivkin
Arthur Schmidt (film editor), Arthur Schmidt
Craig Wood (film editor), Craig Wood
- **studio**: Jerry Bruckheimer Films
First Mate Productions Inc.
Walt Disney Pictures
- **distributor**: Buena Vista Pictures Distribution
- **runtime**: 143 minutes
- **country**: United States
- **language**: English
- **budget**: $140 million
- **gross**: $654,264,015