Before Pirates of the Caribbean, Gore Verbinski Was Nearly Made a Movie Based on a Lesser-Known Disney Ride

Cinema has felt the loss of the singular Gore Verbinski, who hasn't directed a feature film since A Cure for Wellness in 2016. For whatever reason, work has dried up, although, fortunately, he's set to return in 2026 with the action-comedy, Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die. Even before directing his first of three movies in the Pirates of the Caribbean series, Verbinski was frequently attached to tentpole projects by major studios. Either purposefully or inexplicably, Disney films based on theme park rides latched on to him, as just before The Curse of the Black Pearl, Verbinski was initially hired to direct Mission to Mars for Disney. The eventual director, Brian De Palma, was an unconventional but inspired choice. However, the misfire of the final product confirmed that Verbinski would've been the ideal fit all along.