Theater owners say thanks to hitmaker Bruckheimer

[March 19, 2010]  LAS VEGAS (AP) -- Like most people who receive lifetime-achievement awards, Jerry Bruckheimer wants everyone to know he's not finished yet.

"Hopefully, there's more to come," said Bruckheimer, the producer of such franchises as "Pirates of the Caribbean," "National Treasure" and "Beverly Hills Cop," who received a career prize Thursday night at closing ceremonies of the ShoWest convention for theater owners.

Before the awards, ShoWest crowds got their first look at Bruckheimer's next potential franchise -- "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time," an action adventure starring Jake Gyllenhaal that opens May 28. Bruckheimer follows with another summer offering July 16, "The Sorcerer's Apprentice," an action comedy with "National Treasure" star Nicolas Cage.

Bruckheimer is developing a third installment in the "National Treasure" series, which stars Cage as an unorthodox history scholar racing to unlock hidden secrets that lead to vanished riches.

Filming begins in June on "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides," the fourth installment in the franchise starring Johnny Depp as woozy buccaneer Capt. Jack Sparrow.

Due in theaters in May 2011, the film picks up where the last one left off, as Sparrow embarks on a new quest with a map to the fountain of youth in hand. Penelope Cruz co-stars, with Geoffrey Rush reprising his role as pirate Barbossa and Ian McShane signing on as Blackbeard.

"Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" earned Depp a best-actor nomination at the Academy Awards and launched a trilogy as the story continued with two sequels. With Depp's Sparrow sailing off on a fresh voyage, Bruckheimer said he did not yet know if "On Stranger Tides" might lead to more films in the series.

"When we made the first one, it was only going to be one movie," Bruckheimer said. "So you never know. If Johnny stays in love with the character, hopefully we could continue it."

Bruckheimer, 62, said he knew he wanted to go into show business by the time he was 5 or 6. It was just a matter of figuring out the right job.

"I knew that acting wasn't something I would be good at. I'm not the kind of person who likes to stand in front of the crowd and pound my chest," Bruckheimer said. "I'm more the person who likes to be behind the scenes and make sure everything goes right."

Bruckheimer started out making commercials and moved into films in the early 1970s, earning his first producer credit on Robert Mitchum's 1975 crime thriller, "Farewell, My Lovely."

In the 1980s and '90s, Bruckheimer established himself as a Hollywood powerhouse with such hits as "Flashdance," "Beverly Hills Cop," "Con Air" and Tom Cruise's "Top Gun" and "Days of Thunder." Bruckheimer and director Michael Bay teamed on a string of movies that included "Bad Boys" and "Bad Boys II," "Armageddon," "The Rock" and "Pearl Harbor."

Bruckheimer's television credits include the "CSI" franchise, "Without a Trace" and "The Amazing Race."

While he has made more serious movies such as Cate Blanchett's Irish drama "Veronica Guerin" and Denzel Washington's racial-integration football story "Remember the Titans," Bruckheimer aims his movies for mainstream audiences, not critics or awards voters.

"I think when you do that, you fail. I've got to make pictures that I want to see," Bruckheimer said. "I don't know what critics like, I don't know what reviewers like. Maybe someday, they'll match up."

[Associated Press; By DAVID GERMAIN]

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