Is Johnny Depp Still a Bankable Movie Star?

Johnny Depp, who gained megastar status playing Captain Jack Sparrow and Gellert Grindelwald in J.K. Rowling’s “Fantastic Beasts” franchise, may be past his prime as a bankable movie star. And his troubles may have grown since he lost his libel lawsuit this week against U.K.’s The Sun over accusations of domestic abuse against ex-wife Amber Heard and continues to struggle with personal scandals. On Friday, Warner Bros. announced that Depp’s role as Grindewald would be recast for the third film in “Fantastic Beasts” which is currently in production. Since his debut as one of Freddy Krueger’s victims in 1984’s “Nightmare on Elm Street,” Depp has racked up over $10 billion in career global box office grosses. Nearly half of that has come from Disney’s “Pirates of the Caribbean” series, which earned Depp an Oscar nomination and catapulted him into the summer blockbuster elite through the 2000s. Two installments of the “Pirates” series — “Dead Man’s Chest” in 2006 and “On Stranger Tides” in 2011 — grossed over $1 billion worldwide, as did Disney’s remake of “Alice in Wonderland” in 2010, in which Depp played the Mad Hatter. But over the last decade, Depp’s bankability has waned. Between 2003 and 2011, he had six films that grossed over $400 million worldwide. Since then, he has had only two: “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales” with $788 million and “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” in 2018 with $651 million. (And though his character’s name is in the title, Depp had only a supporting role.) In both cases, these sequels have underperformed compared to previous installments. While “Dead Men Tell No Tales” did well in China, its global grosses were down 25% from “On Stranger Tides,” thanks in large part to domestic numbers that were the lowest in franchise history — $172 million, with inflation adjustment. “The Crimes of Grindelwald” saw a 20% drop from the $812 million global gross of the first “Fantastic Beasts,” in which Depp only had a cameo. And Depp also racked up a string of costly flops, including 2013’s “The Lone Ranger” ($260 million against a $225 million budget), 2015’s “Mortdecai” ($30.3 million against a $60 million budget) and 2016’s “Alice Through the Looking Glass” ($276 million against a $170 million budget). “The Lone Ranger” and “Mortdecai” were both failed efforts to spark new franchises at a time when studios are focused on sequel-worthy properties. In this century, series like “Fast & Furious” and the Marvel Cinematic Universe has shown that familiar IP often interest mainstream audiences more than individual stars. And while the stain of a British court labeling him a “wife beater” could hurt his reputation — and make him persona non grata for film projects targeting family audiences, at least for now — many observers expect that Depp will be able to overcome his current challenges down the line. “Most of the general public probably doesn’t pay attention to the tabloid headlines and just focuses on (stars) as actors and whether they’re interested in the films they are in,” Box office analyst Shawn Robbins said. “Take a look at Will Smith. He was on top of the charts for years and years but then had a long lull. But then last year he came back in ‘Aladdin’ and had a huge hit when attached to a Disney remake.” For Depp, it may simply be that “Pirates of the Caribbean” and a “Harry Potter” prequel series are no longer the surefire hits they once were, and his struggles with finding hits beyond those proven franchises are simply ones facing plenty of other A-listers. Take Robert Downey Jr., whose first major post-Marvel film, “Dolittle,” flopped earlier this year, earning just $250 million against a reported $175 million budget (before reshoots).