The fifth Pirates of the Caribbean film sailed into cinemas over the weekend to claim number one spot at the box office. But a close look at the numbers tells a far more nuanced - and interesting - tale.
While audiences haven't turned their backs on Johnny Depp's swashbuckling character just yet, they are certainly showing early signs of fatigue.
Dead Men Tell No Tales netted around $83 million during its opening weekend in the United States, a figure that propelled it to the top of the box office charts. However, that figure is the second-worst opening weekend in the history of the blockbuster franchise.
Only the first film - The Curse of the Black Pearl - did worse, snapping up around $62 million on its domestic debut. And that was well before Captain Jack Sparrow and his mountain of eyeliner had become a household name.
A domestic debut of $83 million isn't terrible by any stretch of the imagination, but it is important to remember Tell No Tales had a production budget of $309 million. It was only thanks to strong international ticket sales that the film finished the weekend in the black.
A less complicated example of remake fatigue setting in, meanwhile, can be seen in the way Paramount's Baywatch largely belly-flopped at the box office.
Despite the allure of Zac Efron's glistening abs, the remake of the titillating TV classic has scooped up just over $30 million in global box office sales since it opened in cinemas earlier this month. All against a budget of just over $90 million.
Baywatch, to be fair, had its own unique hurdles to overcome. Unlike Star Wars, for example, younger audiences were unfamiliar with the original iteration. And certain sections of society were always going to be put off by the shameless man-candy offering (straight men, cough).
Hollywood executives have been quick to point the finger at review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes for the worse-than-expected weekend debuts of new-look films like Baywatch. Born-again pop culture giants are, understandably, not the sort of movies critics tend to rant about.
Whatever the reason, though, there's no denying that remakes and umpteenth sequels are experiencing a mid-year slump.
Audiences are hungry for some original blockbusters to bring some diversity to their pop culture diet (Star Wars films stretching into the next decade aside). It's time Hollywood listened.
