Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides "Pirates of the Caribbean" ride that inspired the film series. Many of the film's stars were in attendance. Two other early screenings followed, one in Moscow on May 11, and another during the Cannes International Film Festival on May 14. The international release dates fell within May 18 and 20, with opening dates in the United Kingdom on May 18, in Australia on May 19, and in North America on May 20. The film was released on a then-record 402 IMAX screens, 257 screens in North America, and 139 in other territories. The total number of theaters was 4,155 in
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides critic Mark Kermode gave the film an overwhelmingly negative review on his "5 Live" show, saying "it's not as staggeringly misjudged as the third part, because it is just nothing, it is just a big empty nothing, whereas part three I think was an active atrocity, it's just nothing at all". As with the previous films, the plot was criticized as incoherent and confusing. "The Arizona Republic" critic Bill Goodykoontz rated the film two out of five, stating that "the movie is a series of distractions tossed together in the hopes that they will come together in a coherent story.