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: 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 characters who were 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).

Films

main: Pirates of the Caribbean (film series)

1. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
2. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
3. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

Video games

main: 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.