Pirates of the Caribbean is a series of cape and sword fantasy films produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and based on the Walt Disney theme park ride of the same name. The film series serves as an important component of the franchise of the namesake media.

The directors of the series include Gore Verbinski (films 1-3), Rob Marshall, Joachim Rønning (5-6) and Espen Sandberg. The series is written primarily by Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio (1-4); other writers include Stuart Beattie, Jay Wolpert, Jeff Nathanson and Craig Mazin. The stories follow the adventures of Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp), Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley). Characters like Hector Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) and Joshamee Gibbs (Kevin McNally) follow Jack, Will and Elizabeth as the films progress. The fourth film stars Blackbeard (Ian McShane) and Angelica (Penélope Cruz), while the fifth film stars Armando Salazar (Javier Bardem), Henry Turner (Brenton Thwaites) and Carina Smyth (Kaya Scodelario). The films are set in a fictional version of the Golden Age of Piracy and are made mainly in the Caribbean.

The film series began in 2003 with Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Pearl black which received positive reception from audiences and film critics alike and grossed $654 million worldwide.

After the success of the first film, Walt Disney Pictures revealed that a series of films was in the works. The second film in the franchise, titled The Dead Man’s Casket, premiered three years later in 2006; the sequel was successful, breaking financial records worldwide on its release day. The Dead Man’s Casket ended up being the number one movie of the year grossing nearly $1.100 million at the worldwide box office.

The third film in the series, titled In the End of the World, followed in 2007 grossing $960 million, and Disney released a fourth film, titled In Mysterious Tides, in 2011 in conventional 2D, digital 3D and IMAX 3D. Mysterious Tides also managed to gross more than $1 billion, becoming the second film in the franchise and only the eighth film in history to do so. The franchise has grossed more than $4.5 billion worldwide; it is the fourteenth highest-grossing film series of all time and is the first film franchise to produce two or more films to gross more than $1 billion.