LOS ANGELES • The last instalment of the Pirates Of The Caribbean franchise failed to storm the box-office. One problem was that Johnny Depp, who played Captain Jack Sparrow, reportedly received up to US$128 million (S$174 million) in Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017), Forbes noted.

The movie made US$245 million in the United States, according to Box Office Mojo. Now Disney wants to cut losses, dropping Depp from a planned reboot of the series.

Family-friendly Disney is reportedly tired of the bad press surrounding Depp, whose former business managers have revealed that he spent lavishly. Amber Heard, his former wife, had also accused him of domestic violence.

Meanwhile, Depp has filed a defamation lawsuit against British tabloid The Sun. It ran a story in April last year that had questioned why Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling had not stopped the casting of the "wife-beater Depp" in a Fantastic Beasts film.