Has Jerry Bruckheimer lost the ability to turn in money-churning blockbuster after money-churning blockbuster? That's the theory posited in a fascinating piece on The Hollywood Reporter today, which points to a string of four successive flops from the uber-producer behind such ever-green franchises as Pirates of the Caribbean, National Treasure and Bad Boys. But this past weekend's poor performance for The Sorcerer's Apprentice – which Disney had hoped would start another franchise printing press of cash – hasn't helped the producer. We reported way back in November 2005 that Disney were signing Bruckheimer into a 5-year deal that was the largest in its history. If that deal is coming to an end, it stands to reason that a string of flops on his recent CV may not help his chances of renewing it at that same sort of scale.
