THE SPARROW CUT: CUT LIST
Disclaimer: We made some small edits to scenes in Pirates 1-4 that might not be listed below but were made to just help the pace of those scenes.
Pirates: Curse of the Black Pearl
In the opening scene, trimmed down some of the coverage and cut out Young William briefly waking up, stating his name and then passing back out.
Cut the opening of Norrington's ceremony, which basically only repeats information about Elizabeth's struggle with the corset (which is more relevant to later scene coverage)
Cut out some of the coverage of the raid of Port Royal that didn't include named or recurring characters
Cut the slapping scene out of Tortuga intro
Cut down some of the coverage of the skeleton pirate reveal on the Black Pearl to keep focus on Elizabeth's perspective and her trajectory through the scene
Tightened up the ship battle - cut out as many shots without named or recurring (within the sequence) characters as possible
Trimmed Elizabeth and Jack bonfire scene slightly
Trimmed the "take a walk" sequence, cut out the Pintel & Ragetti dress bit and reordered shots in an attempt to move things quicker and with more direct continuity (less cross cutting)
Tightened up the final gallows scene a little bit, punched in on Elizabeth and William to avoid including Elizabeth's dad watching them smooch at the end (distracting and weird)
Pirates: Dead Man's Chest
Pirates 2 (Renamed Part 1: "The Black Spot")
Jack's introduction scene is cleaned up and focuses on Jack
Jack meeting Bootstrap and Will talking to Beckett scenes have been spliced together to help pacing and withhold some information until later in the movie
Removed initial Kraken reveal scene (Attacking random boat) to allow its reveal to happen to our main characters instead
Elizabeth and Will talking in jail before Will leaves removed
Elizabeth's escape from jail scene was greatly cut down
Cannibal island sequence significantly cut down and better focused.
Most of Elizabeth's story on the "haunted ship" is removed
Tia Dalma scene reworked and tighter
Removed scene below deck on Davy Jones ship
Removed most Pintel & Ragetti solo scenes
Removed Elizabeth's father and Beckett speaking scene
Edited for increased tension during all of the Kraken scenes - this meant removing most of the wide CGI shots of the sea monster and grounding our view of it in the perspective of characters aboard the ship in an attempt to make it less about the spectacle of the Kraken and more about its fearsome relationship to people at sea
Removed Norrington post running scene away after the Isle De Cruces fight
Edited down the final Tia Dalma scene to focus it
Removed certain "comedic" scenes/shots that didn't fit with the new cut
Pirates 3 (Renamed Part 2: "Maelstrom")
Nearly all scenes have been slightly trimmed at the very least to improve pacing
Opening hanging scene cut down significantly
Initial scene in Singapore overhauled, shortened, focused. Tried to cut out gratuitous over objectification or abuse of Elizabeth, particularly when it seems to be an attempt to play for laughs
Initial Beckett & Norrington scene edited & focused (Removed Elizabeth's father)
Elizabeth's father's storyline removed
We decided to remove Will & Elizabeth speaking in any significant capacity until later in the movie to increase the unspoken tension between those characters
BIG CHANGE: Jack's scene in Davy Jones locker removed - His introduction is now the epic shot of him sailing down the sand dune (in an attempt to mirror his introduction in COTBP)
Elizabeth seeing the ghosts in the water scene removed - the concept is discussed elsewhere in the movie
Down is Up scene has been shortened and focused
Elizabeth being Calypso has been greatly reduced, we kept in a small mention, removed Sao Feng kissing her, etc. That scene has been completely overhauled
Elizabeth doesn't kiss Norrington anymore. He doesn't need to kiss her in that scene, his redemption has been made by his actions. We found that the end of many male characters' storylines included a sort of trophy kissing of Elizabeth, which generally felt gratuitous and unmotivated on Elizabeth's part
Entering Shipwreck Coves scene has been edited down and focused
Shipwreck Cove interior scene has been overhauled
Removed Keith Richards
Meeting with Beckett pre-Maelstrom edited down significantly
Long establishing shots of sailing to Worlds End shortened and edited
Minor editing during Maelstrom scene to help pacing and remove small parts
Cut out Will and Elizabeth's "marriage" scene during the battle to improve pacing and prolong the release of the tension between them to the climactic moments of the battle (instead of deflating the tension in the middle of it)
Heavy editing on final scene between Will & Elizabeth and Elizabeth trying to kiss Jack
Last scene with Jack with the two women at port has been chopped down
Removed post credits scene
Pirates: On Stranger Tides
Significantly edited down the opening Spain scene.
Removed silly Jack as a judge scene, jump to the escape with Gibbs.
Edited Jack's escape and chase through London for pacing.
Removed Keith Richards (again!)
Edited down mutiny scene and Blackbeard's entrance
Removed Blackbeard & Angelica talking scene
Edited down the scene on Barbosa's boat where the guy jumps off
Removed any mention of the Jack Sparrow voodoo doll
Significant overhaul of the obtaining a mermaid scene.
Edited down the Barbosa scene after they land their ship
Removed Angelica picking up a snake from the water
Tried to minimize all scenes that play up the love story between the religious guy & the mermaid
BIG CHANGE: Did everything possible to cut out the Mermaid plotline after Blackbeard initially tries to get the tear (Big story change but no spoilers)
Removed that weird "Russian Roulette" scene before Jack jumps from the waterfall
Reworked the bartering scene with Blackbeard in the Jungle
The "BIG CHANGE" has scene removals that I didn't list here but trust me, there's a few more big scene removals
Removed post credits scene