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PRODUCTION US, Norway

No Pirates, no Mortal Instruments - Norwegian directors must wait

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- Norwegian directors Espen Sandberg, Joachim Rønning and Harald Zwart's Hollywood projects, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales and The Mortal Instruments: City of Ashes, have been postponed

No Pirates, no Mortal Instruments - Norwegian directors must wait

Two major Hollywood movies with Norwegian directors assigned - Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, by Kon-Tiki [+see also:
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directors Espen Sandberg-Joachim Rønning (photo), and The Mortal Instruments: City of Ashes, the sequel of Harald Zwart's TMI: City of Bones - have been postponed, Pirates allegedly till March, TMI indefinitely.

"We have an outline everyone loves, but the script is not done," said US producer Jerry Bruckheimer, whose Jerry Bruckheimer Films is producing the €225+ million adventure action movie with Walt Disney Pictures; he is now looking to a summer 2016 release. News comes in the aftermath of the box office failure of US director Gore Verbinsky's The Lone Ranger, which is expected to cost Disney a €140 million write-down. The latest Pirates film, US director Rob Marshall's On Stranger Tides (2011), grossed €0.8 billion.

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The delay is not due to the American performance of Sandberg-Rønning’s Golden Globe and Oscar-nominated Thor Heyerdahl picture: Kon-Tiki, which has been sold to more than 50 countries, opened in April to collect  €17,000 from two screens (New York, Los Angeles), and generated €1.3 million from 75 venues after five months. In Norway it took 900,000 admissions, selling 41% of all tickets for local fare.

After his US success with The Karate Kid (2010), Zwart's TMI: City of Bones was launched on August 21 and has since grossed a disappointing €43.8 million worldwide. According to German producer and head of Constantin Film Martin Moszkowicz the decision to postpone the start of the sequel "was not taken lightly - but it was clear that it will be beneficial to have more time to reposition the film in the current marketplace."

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