Tourism officials and the Bahamian media were shut out from viewing a sneak peak of Pirates of the Caribbean II: Dead Man’s Chest, after a “contractual dispute” between the movie’s distributor and a New York Theatre company occurred.
The delegation, which included Tourism Obie Wilchcombe and Director General Vernice Walkine, had traveled to New York for the post screening of the Pirates of the Caribbean and were expected to view the movie on Wednesday, June 28, at 6:30pm 10 days before its worldwide release. But by 3:00p.m. that afternoon, they were informed that the viewing would not take place.
Official word of the cancellation came later that evening, at a special reception held to celebrate The Bahamas’ involvement in the Pirates of the Caribbean movie.
There, at the Conde Nast Publications building in Time Square, officials apologized for the “sudden cancellation” of the screening of the much anticipated film.
They then explained that it was due to “a contractual dispute between the distributor and the theatre company”.
Still, an invitation for a private screening at Galleria Cinemas on the opening night of Dead Man’s Chest, was issued to the Bahamian media, who had traveled to New York to cover the event.
Scenes from the Disney film, which stars Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightly, were shot in Grand Bahama last year. The movie, which opens on July 7, is a sequel to 2003’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl.
The first Pirates installment grossed $653 million worldwide. In the second film of the Pirates’ trilogy, Depp’s character, Capt. Jack Sparrow, is trying to rescue his friends Will (Bloom) and Elizabeth (Knightley), who have been arrested on their wedding day for their role in helping him escape in the first installment.
By JASMIN BONIMY Guardian Staff Reporter
