Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl is the first film of the Pirates of the Caribbean film series, directed by Gore Verbinski and released in 2003. The plot follows pirate Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) and blacksmith Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) as they attempt to rescue Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) from the cursed crew of the Black Pearl, led by Hector Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush), who has turned into zombie skeletons in the moonlight.

Despite modest predictions, the film was a box office smash, grossing $654.3 million worldwide, making it the fourth highest-grossing film of 2003. Critics gave film mostly excellent reviews, with Depp's performance receiving widespread praise. After several years as a cult cinema star, the film is often credited with launching Depp as a box office leading man. In addition to Best Actor nominations at the Academy Awards, BAFTAs, and Golden Globes, Depp won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role.

Detailed Information:
Directed by: Gore Verbinski
Starring: Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley
Release dates: June 28, 2003 (Disneyland Resort)/July 9, 2003 (United States)
Running time: 143 minutes

Edward Scissorhands is a Tim Burton-directed American fantasy romantic film from 1990. It was produced by Burton and Denise Di Novi, and Caroline Thompson wrote it based on a scenario she and Burton wrote. Edward is an incomplete artificial humanoid played by Johnny Depp, with scissor blades instead of hands. A suburban family adopts the young man, and he falls in love with their teenage daughter, Kim (Winona Ryder).

Edward Scissorhands received generally positive reviews and was a commercial success, generating more than four times its $20 million budget. The film was nominated for multiple Academy Awards, British Academy Film Awards, and Saturn Awards, and won the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation. Edward Scissorhands is considered by both Burton and Elfman to be their most personal and favorite work.

Detailed Information:

Directed by: Tim Burton

Starring: Johnny Depp, Winona Ryder, Dianne Wiest, Anthony Michael Hall

Release dates: December 6, 1990 (Los Angeles)/December 7, 1990 (United States)
Running time: 105 minutes

Ed Wood was a biographical dramedy directed and produced by Tim Burton, featuring Johnny Depp as the renowned director. Director Edward D. Wood Jr. is a Hollywood outcast due to his unusual habits and perplexingly bizarre films. Nonetheless, with the support of the once renowned Bela Lugosi and a devoted cast and crew of show-biz misfits who believe in Ed's off-kilter vision, the filmmaker is able to bring his enormous ambitions to life on the big screen. Ed and his friends manage to make an unusually lovable series of incredibly low-budget films despite their lack of critical and commercial success.

While the film was a commercial failure, grossing only $5.9 million against an $18 million budget, it was hailed with critical acclaim upon its debut, with Depp and Landau's performances receiving special appreciation. It went on to win two Academy Awards and become a cult classic.

Detailed Information:
Directed by: Tim Burton
Starring: Johnny Depp, Martin Landau, Sarah Jessica Parker, Patricia Arquette
Release dates: September 23, 1994 (New York Film Festival)/September 30, 1994 (United States)
Running time: 127 minutes

Donnie Brasco is a crime drama film directed by Mike Newell and starring Al Pacino and Johnny Depp that was released in 1997. This true story follows Joe Pistone, an FBI agent, infiltrating the New York mafia. Pistone (as Donnie Brasco) is able to join a mafia group commanded by Sonny Black after befriending Lefty Ruggiero. As the group goes about collecting money for 'the bosses,' Ruggiero and Pistone get closer. When Black becomes a boss, the organization becomes big-time, and Pistone collects evidence in the meantime. His marriage goes apart, and the mafia suspects him of being a mole within the group. Pistone is in a tremendous pickle since he knows that if he leaves the mob, Ruggiero will suffer the consequences.

Donnie Brasco premiered on February 24, 1997, in Century City, and was released by TriStar Pictures on February 28, 1997. The film was a box office hit, grossing $124.9 million against a $35 million budget, and receiving positive critical reviews. The film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Detailed Information:
Directed by: Mike Newell
Starring: Al Pacino, Johnny Depp, Michael Madsen, Bruno Kirby
Release dates: February 24, 1997 (Century City, California)/February 28, 1997 (United States)
Running time: 127 minutes

What's Eating Gilbert Grape is a 1993 American coming-of-age film that also features an Oscar-nominated performance by a young Leonardo DiCaprio. The script was written by Peter Hedges (father of noted actor Lucas Hedges) and is based on his 1991 novel of the same name. Filming took place in a number of locations around Texas. It's a beautiful picture about compassion, caring, and self-awareness set in the fictional working-class community of Endora.

The story follows Ellen and Amy Grape, their two brothers Arnie and Gilbert, and their morbidly obese widowed mother Bonnie Grape, as they try to cope with the loss of a father figure, a low-wage job, and seventeen-year-old Arnie's serious mental illness. The film was well-received, and while DiCaprio, who was 19 at the time, won his first Academy Award and Golden Globe nods, it was Depp who carried the film as successfully. His portrayal of the ambivalent elder brother was compelling.

Detailed Information:
Directed by: Lasse Hallström
Starring: Johnny Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio, Juliette Lewis, Mary Steenburgen
Release date: December 17, 1993

Running time: 118 minutes

Public Enemies is a 2009 American biographical crime drama film directed by Michael Mann. Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933–34 is an adaption of Bryan Burrough's nonfiction book. The film follows the final years of notorious bank robber John Dillinger. FBI Director J. Edger Hoover vows to bring him down by appointing ace agent Melvin Purvis to track him down. Dillinger confronts a gloomy future with the loss of friends, dwindling options, and a shifting world of organized crime with little space for him while Purvis battles with the manhunt's reality.

Burrough had planned to develop a television miniseries about the United States' Depression-era crime epidemic but instead opted to write a book about it. Though the film is not totally historically accurate, Mann developed the project and certain parts were filmed on location where they occurred. The film received mostly positive reviews from reviewers and made $214 million worldwide when it was released on July 1, 2009.

Detailed Information:

Directed by: Michael Mann

Starring: Johnny Depp, Christian Bale, Marion Cotillard, Billy Crudup

Release dates: June 19, 2009 (Chicago)/July 1, 2009 (United States)
Running time: 140 minutes

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is a black comedy film from the United States released in 1998, based on Hunter S. Thompson's 1971 novel of the same name. Terry Gilliam co-wrote and directed the film, which stars Johnny Depp as Raoul Duke and Benicio del Toro as Dr. Gonzo, respectively. The film garnered mixed reviews from reviewers and was a box office flop, but it has since become a cult favorite among moviegoers.

Hunter S. Thompson's seminal psychedelic classic about his automobile journey through Western America as he and his gigantic Samoan lawyer looked desperately for the "American dream," aided in part by the massive amount of drugs and booze kept in their convertible, The Red Shark.

Detailed Information:

Directed by: Terry Gilliam

Starring: Johnny Depp, Benicio del Toro

Release date: May 22, 1998
Running time: 118 minutes

Oliver Stone wrote and directed Platoon, a 1986 American war film. It is the first trilogy of Stone's Vietnam War films, which includes Born on the Fourth of July (1989) and Heaven & Earth (1993). The film follows Chris Taylor, a new recruit in Vietnam, who becomes embroiled in a power struggle between two sergeants, one good and the other wicked. It is a smart assessment of war's brutality and man's dual character in combat.

Platoon received critical acclaim upon its premiere for Stone's direction and script, the cinematography, battle sequences' realism, and the performances of Sheen, Dafoe, and Berenger. The film was a box office hit upon its initial release, grossing $138.5 million domestically against a budget of $6 million. Platoon was ranked #83 in the American Film Institute's "AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies" survey in 1998.

Detailed Information:
Directed by: Oliver Stone
Starring: Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe, Charlie Sheen
Release date: December 19, 1986
Running time: 120 minutes

Black Mass is a biographical crime drama film about American gangster Whitey Bulger that was released in 2015. It is based on Dick Lehr and Gerard O'Neill's 2001 book Black Mass: The True Story of an Unholy Alliance Between the FBI and the Irish Mob, directed by Scott Cooper and written by Mark Mallouk and Jez Butterworth. The actual story of Whitey Bulger, the brother of a state legislator and the most infamous violent gangster in South Boston history, who became an FBI informant to bring down a Mafia family invading his territory.

The film's principal filming began on May 19, 2014, in Boston, and ended on August 1, 2014. The film premiered at the 72nd Venice International Film Festival and was released worldwide on September 18, 2015, by Warner Bros. On a $53 million budget, it earned $99 million and garnered mostly excellent reviews.

Detailed Information:
Directed by: Scott Cooper
Starring: Johnny Depp, Joel Edgerton, Benedict Cumberbatch, Rory Cochrane
Release dates: September 4, 2015 (Venice)/ September 18, 2015 (United States)
Running time: 123 minutes

Minamata is a 2020 drama film directed by Andrew Levitas and based on Aileen Mioko Smith and Eugene Smith's novel of the same name. On February 21, 2020, the film had its world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival. Samuel Goldwyn Films released it in the United States on February 11, 2022.

W. Eugene Smith has become a recluse, cut off from society and his work, following his famed days as one of World War II's most renowned photojournalists. However, a secret commission from Life magazine editor Robert Hayes takes him to the Japanese seaside city of Minamata. Smith immerses himself in the community, documenting their efforts to live with Minamata Disease and their determined fight to get Chisso and the Japanese government recognizes the disease. Smith's photographs from the poisonous town, taken with his camera, give the disaster a heartbreaking human depth, and his initial assignment becomes a life-changing experience.

Detailed Information:
Directed by: Andrew Levitas
Starring: Johnny Depp, Hiroyuki Sanada, Minami, Jun Kunimura
Release dates: February 21, 2020 (Berlinale)/August 13, 2021 (United Kingdom)/February 11, 2022 (United States)
Running time: 115 minutes