All Of The Pirates Of The Caribbean Movies, Ranked By Box Office

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Back in 2003, Disney struck unexpected gold when it launched the “Pirates of the Caribbean” film franchise. Directed by Gore Verbinski, “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl” was a ride turned box office hit, one that helped define live-action Disney in the 2000s. Aside from the studio’s live-action remakes of its animated classics, the adventures of Johnny Depp’s Captain Jack Sparrow helped anchor the Mouse House’s blockbuster output for over a decade.

Though the property has been dormant since 2017’s “Dead Men Tell No Tales,” the appetite for these movies remains strong, and they’ve collectively pulled in more than $4.5 billion globally. Few franchises in the history of cinema can claim to be as broadly popular in the mainstream. But which of these movies had the biggest impact at the box office? Does that change if we look at the films through a modern financial lens?

We’re going to break down and rank the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies by what they earned at the box office. We’ll look at how that ranking shakes out unadjusted for inflation and how that changes when we adjust for inflation. We’re also going to go over the cost for each of these films and how that colors their earnings, in addition to seeing what the numbers can teach us. Let’s get into it.

First, we’ll look at how all of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies performed at the box office without accounting for inflation. For transparency, to get these numbers, various databases, including Box Office Mojo and The Numbers, were used. The highest reported gross for each film is what is being included. These are worldwide grosses, including both domestic and international ticket sales. Here’s how it shakes out:

1. “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest”: $1.06 billion

2. “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides”: $1.04 billion

3. “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End”: $961.6 million

4. “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales”: $795.9 million

5. “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl”: $654.3 million

One thing that stands out instantly is that “Curse of the Black Pearl” made over $650 million and is the franchise’s lowest-grossing entry to date. If that’s the low bar, by default, it’s a pretty high bar to clear. This also remains the only time that Disney has managed to turn a theme park attraction into a lucrative film series, though it’s tried plenty of other times. Hence, there’s a small irony in this property’s most beloved installment also being the lowest earner.

Aside from that, we can see that hype increased greatly by the time “Dead Man’s Chest” reached theaters in 2006, giving the franchise a $1 billion hit at a time when those were hard to come by. For context, Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland” was only the sixth movie to make at least $1 billion when it arrived four years after “Dead Man’s Chest.” Aside from that, we can see that the property has been remarkably consistent; even the not-well-liked “Dead Men Tell No Tales” grossed nearly $800 million.

Now, we’re going to look at the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies at the box office while accounting for inflation. To arrive at these numbers, we used the U.S. Inflation Calculator to determine what the films would’ve made in 2025 dollars. Because inflation is an ever-growing thing, these numbers will change over time. As such, it’s impossible to get a perfect sense of what the inflation-adjusted gross is, but this does provide a snapshot of how it looks now. Here’s how it shakes out:

1. “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest”: $1.7 billion

2. “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides”: $1.51 billion

3. “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End”: $1.5 billion

4. “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl”: $1.15 billion

5. “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales”: $1.05 billion

The thing that jumps out right away is that, in today’s dollars, all of these movies would’ve grossed at least $1 billion. Hits of this size are much harder to come by in the pandemic era, but they’re still more common than they used to be. At least nine movies scheduled for 2026 have a shot at reaching $1 billion globally. Even so, it’s impressive how consistent and loyal the global audience for these movies is. All of these films made well over half of their money overseas. Disney benefits greatly from international interest here.

The other thing that stands out is that “At World’s End” and “On Stranger Tides” made almost identical money by 2025 standards. We also see that “Curse of the Black Pearl” benefitted by far the most from the inflation adjustment, overtaking “Dead Men Tell No Tales” to land at number four. That’s what 22 years of inflation can do.

This is where things get interesting. There’s the old adage “You’ve gotta spend money to make money.” If that’s the case, then Disney absolutely nailed it with this franchise when it comes to the first part of that saying. Dating back to “Curse of the Black Pearl,” the studio has spent big on these movies. We’re going to lay out what each of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” films cost to make, both unadjusted and adjusted for inflation. Here’s the full breakdown:

• “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl” (2003): $140 million unadjusted/$246.5 million adjusted

• “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” (2006): $225 million unadjusted/$361.5 million adjusted

• “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” (2007): $300 million unadjusted/$468.7 million adjusted

• “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” (2011): $379 million unadjusted/$545.8 million adjusted

• “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales” (2017): $230 million unadjusted/$304 million adjusted

Needless to say, these movies are expensive, even by Hollywood blockbuster standards. “Dead Man’s Chest,” “At World’s End,” and “On Stranger Tides” were all the most expensive movies ever made at the time of the respective releases. “On Stranger Tides,” in particular, is wildly costly and emblematic of Hollywood’s budget problem (one that’s been brewing for years).

That said, the other thing that stands out is the fact that, in each case, these movies made more than enough money to justify their outlandish budgets. Spending that kind of money is beyond risky, and yet, every time Disney has done it, it’s come out on top. Granted, such budgets end up eating into potential profits, but hit franchises are hard to come by, and these films were, for a time, essentially money-printing machines.

At the end of the day, against an average budget of over/under $255 million, these movies averaged over $900 million each at the box office. That’s to say nothing of DVD/Blu-ray sales, ample merchandise opportunities, cable revenue, VOD money, and now streaming revenue, as well as increased interest in theme park attractions. “Pirates” is a full-blown cash cow for Disney.

Granted, by the time “Dead Men Tell No Tales” rolled around, fatigue appeared to be setting in, in no small part thanks to lousy reviews. But if Disney does indeed make another entry, and if they can make a quality one, there’s almost certainly an audience for it. It may be problematic, but it’s also not hard to see why they might still be interested in bringing back Depp as Jack Sparrow. He’s the face of the franchise, and the numbers tell us it’s a bankable face.

It would certainly behoove Disney to bring costs down, which the studio seems to be trying to do in the future since the state of the box office is uncertain. Gone are the days of spending an eye-melting amount to make “Star Wars: Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker.” Yes, a new “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie would be expensive, but it can’t be “the most expensive movie of all time” levels of expensive. The law of diminishing returns makes that far too risky in this day and age. But at the right price, Disney would probably do well to try and keep this ship sailing, as it were.

You can grab the “Pirates of the Caribbean” five movie collection on Blu-ray from Amazon.