Pirates of the Caribbean sequel delayed

The forthcoming fifth film in the franchise will see Johnny Depp return as Captain Jack Sparrow

The next Pirates of the Caribbean film has been delayed beyond its planned 2015 release.

Disney's Pirates of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, which sees Johnny Depp returning for his fifth appearance as Captain Jack Sparrow, was expected to go into production next year.

Producer Jerry Bruckheimer told the Hollywood Reporter issues with the script and budget caused the delay.

He said he was now targeting a summer 2016 release.

"We have an outline everyone loves but the script is not done," Bruckheimer said, adding: "We want a script that everyone's signed off on and a budget that everyone's signed off on."

The delay follows the poor performance by Disney's much anticipated summer film The Lone Ranger, also starring Depp, which earned just $29m (£18m) in its opening weekend in the US.

The film, which reportedly cost $215m (£136m) to make, has grossed $243m (£154m) worldwide to date.

Disney warned the film would amount to losses of between $160m-$190m (£104m-£124m) after heavy spending on promotion failed to bring returns.

Bruckheimer said coming up with a great script was "always hard," and after this summer - which saw several blockbuster films perform poorly - "everybody's more cautious".

The most recent Pirates instalments, At World's End and On Stranger Tides, were both released in time for Memorial Day weekend in September 2007 and 2011.

Disney previously announced the fifth Pirates film will be directed by Kon-Tiki filmmakers Joachim Ronning and Espen Sandberg.

The four films in the franchise have grossed a combined total of $3.7bn (£2.3bn) worldwide, making Pirates Of The Caribbean the fifth biggest film franchise ever.