Things haven’t exactly gone swimmingly for Johnny Depp ever since those Amber Heard abuse stories surfaced.

Oh, there was a video or two as well (HERE), but I guess if you play a feisty pirate who brings in billions at the box office some people are happy to turn a blind eye.

Not everyone, mind, because over the past seven years the buzz around the man has fizzled out.

The Telegraph have dug in and here’s what they have to say:

2010 – the beginning of the decline

Depp’s career would rapidly take a turn for the dismal, later that year appearing alongside Angelina Jolie in the endlessly mocked thriller The Tourist.

“Looking puffy and unassertive, Depp never has registered less effectively in his entire film career,” snarked the Hollywood Reporter.

Despite its reputation as a major flop, however, The Tourist still managed to turn a profit overseas, grossing $278 million on a budget of $100m — but its paltry US take signalled a sign of things to come for the star.

Flop vanity projects

Summer 2011 saw the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean entry, On Stranger Tides, gross a billion dollars worldwide, but Depp’s next project, a fictionalised account of Depp’s friend and mentor Hunter S. Thompson, tanked at the box office.

The release of The Rum Diary, which Depp had attempted to get greenlit for over a decade, was delayed for two years due to his commitments to other projects, and grossed just $23 million worldwide on a $45 million budget.

Even worse, the film earned middling reviews

2012 – Dark Shadows flops

For his eighth and, as of 2017, final collaboration with Tim Burton, Depp sought to bring his childhood obsession to the big-screen, encouraging Burton to direct a reboot of the classic Sixties horror soap.

But audiences chose to stay away. Along with a critical drubbing, the film earned just $245 million worldwide on a budget of $150 million, with just $79 million of that coming from the USA.

The film’s tanking lead the Los Angeles Times to ask: “Has America fallen out of love with Johnny Depp?”

July 2013 – The Lone Ranger flops

…mere weeks before the film was due to start shooting, Depp reportedly requested a delay to deal with his “personal life”. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the delay cost Disney $4 million.

But $4 million is chump change compared to the financial loss the film ultimately brought upon the studio: on a still sky-high $215 million budget, the film grossed just $260 million worldwide, immediately putting a stop to any franchise dreams.

In wake of its under-performance, a fifth installment of Pirates of the Caribbean was pushed from its 2015 release date. Producers insisted it was due to the script not yet being ready

November 2014- drunk at awards show

Depp appeared inebriated at the 2014 Hollywood Film Awards while presenting an award to his good friend, talent manager Shep Gordon.

Slurring his words, Depp said: “He’s someone I consider a great friend, somebody… uh, yeah, uh… incredibly, uh… loyal, loyal friend. Um. And so… you have to watch the film. Yeah, there you go.”

He was then cut off by an abrupt roll of clips from the documentary Supermensch.

January 2015 – Mortdecai flops

January 2015 saw the release of Mortdecai, an action comedy that seemed to get much of its comedic mileage from the fact that Depp wears a funny mustache [sic] throughout…

Mortdecai was immediately savaged upon release, The Telegraph calling it “psychotically unfunny”, and it entered the US box office at No. 9, grossing just $47 million worldwide on a budget of $60 million — becoming Depp’s fifth major flop in a row.

The film’s Twitter account also came under fire at the time, both for a misogynist tweet glorifying the groping of Olivia Munn’s breasts, and repeated attempts to crib off the popularity of other social media trends, from the video for Uptown Funk to TV series like Downton Abbey and Parks and Recreation…

Depp was subsequently nominated for two Razzies for the film, and later skipped a promotional appearance for the project — blaming a “Chupacabra attack”.

At this point we are only halfway through their analysis of the fall and fall of Depp’s career, so if you want to see where it went wrong in the past two years pop over HERE.

Poor Johnny, left to spend his millions and millions without the same level of public adoration.

[source:telegraph]