The Lyons Den

Peter Mountain/Disney Enterprises

Arrrgh, mateys! Pirates is back as At World's End blows into theaters this Memorial Day weekend. Will this be the end of Captain Jack? Is this the last Pirates film? Can Pirates top Spidey and Shrek at the box office? 

Only time will tell...

Actually, I'll tell you. This is the last Pirates movie—for a while, at least. Both Orlando Bloom and Jerry Bruckheimer told me they're ready to move on, and the fact that Keira Knightley isn't doing any press or even showing up for the premiere suggests she's ready for something new.

Disney Emterprises

The big question is, of course, the box office, and the jury is still out. There's the long weekend, but the long running time hurts. Not to mention the fact that Spidey and Shrek are still out and there might not be as much excitement because, let's face it, the last installment only came out 11 months ago! Most franchises have a few years in between, which helps fuel the frenzy.

Speaking of frenzy, the whole movie is over the top. It is a sheer visual spectacle, and you have to respect it for that alone. What they do to transform Bill Nighy into Davy Jones is really dope. I've never been a real Pirates fan; in fact, I loathed the first two. (The second was insufferable; I have no idea what it was about.) But of the three, this happens to be my favorite; in this one, several key plot lines are wrapped up nicely—a little too nicely, in fact.

My real beef with the Pirates flicks is that they are straight-up not for kids. Not for young kids, at least. The entire purpose of the movie is to fight, fight, fight. In this one, the opening sequence features a child being hanged. Hanged! I couldn't believe it. As well, the films are all waaay too long, and at times too scary for the littlest of moviegoers. I hope their folks take them to see Surf's Up instead. Much more appropriate and a lot more fun. 

E! Networks

I was also disapointed with the two new additions to the cast: Chow Yun-Fat and Keith Richards. I was hoping they'd save me from my Pirate misery, but alas, they were wasted.  They could have done so much more with one of the great Hong Kong action stars of all time—check him out in this pic on the left—and the Richards cameo is all hype. 

Bottom line is this: It's amazing to look at—beautiful sets, costumes and people. I get it. Depp's portrayal of Captain Jack is one of the great movie characters of all time. However, I just hope audiences will save their hard-earned dollars for future summer flicks.

My box-office prediction:

Three-day total: $142 million

Four-day total: $171 million