I have read the script for Pirates of the Caribbean 3. At least I have read A script – what I read is probably an older draft. I read the script many months before Dead Man’s Chest came out, and Verbinski and crew haven’t finished shooting the third one just yet, so there’s been plenty of opportunity for change.
I briefly considered doing something with the script for CHUD, but then I realized, what’s the point? Two things would happen if I divulged some of the spoilers the script contained (including the aftermath of what happened to Captain Jack Sparrow at the end of Dead Man’s Chest, and the role of the character who appears in that film’s final shot) – I would have pissed off the folks at Disney and I would have ruined not one but two films for a lot of people. Now some blog has posted extensive info about the third film, all of which is pretty much confirmed. I’m not going to link it because I want to make it hard for you to spoil yourself.
Almost four years ago I wrote my first editorial for CHUD, called A Life in Spoilers (you can read it in our archives here). Reading it again I realize two things: Man, did I have a lot of time on my hands to write that, and that I was right. The internet’s spoiler heyday may be behind us – I don’t think things will be getting to the level of spoiler mania people experienced during the Prequel Trilogy production, but Pirates 3 and Spider-Man 3 prove that people are still willing to have whole movies ruined for them a year in advance. And that’s not a good thing.
Four years ago I was just starting out in web writing. In the time since I’ve made some great contacts and found myself in the possession of some incredibly cool information – all too often I can’t print it because I don’t want to get my friend in trouble, or because it would jeopardize a coming project. But I also avoid printing some of the spoilers I come across because I have to wonder what the point of printing it would be. Sure, a story about a spoilery aspect of Pirates 3 might get CHUD more hits, but it would also ruin aspects of the film for a lot of people.
Of course the issue becomes when is something a spoiler for spoiler’s sake and when is something a spoiler that sheds light on an upcoming film in an interesting way? One of the reasons you’re reading a site like CHUD.com is that you want to be informed about upcoming movies, but how much informing is too much?
Drop me an email at devin@chud.com and let me know what you think about spoilers these days. Did the heavy spoiling of the Star Wars prequels turn you off of them? Do you avoid spoilers? Or do you seek them out? Do you wish CHUD had more spoilers? What do you consider a spoiler – a picture of someone in costume? Or a plot point? Or a casting decision? I want to hear what you have to say about this. I’ve been itching to bring back the Shout at the Devil letters column, and this is a good opportunity to get me off my lazy ass and do just that.