The Guadalupe Dunes have made the silver screen once again, this time in what could be the biggest box office smash of the summer: “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End,” the third installment of the blockbuster “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie series.

The dunes don’t get much screen time — just about five minutes — “but it’s a key five minutes,” according to Harry Medved, director of public relations for online movie ticket sales and information center Fandango, who saw the film earlier this week, in advance of today’s release.

The dunes are indeed presented as a crucial setting: “World’s End” itself.

“Kind of like an extended cameo,” said Medved. “What a great movie to have an extended cameo in.”

According to Medved, the dunes appear about 45 minutes into the film as Johnny Depp, playing pirate extraordinaire Capt. Jack Sparrow, pulls his ship the Black Pearl from a barren desert (actually the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah) to the dunes and eventually to the ocean.

“This truly is a God-forsaken place,” says Kevin McNally, playing Sparrow’s awestruck sidekick Gibbs, when they arrive at the dunes.

“The dunes appropriately play a place that is magical, surreal and haunting,” said Medved, adding that anyone who knows the dunes will immediately recognize the scene.

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Medved described the vista as the famous long shot of the dunes, much like what visitors see from the public parking lot.

The scene, he said, is not embellished at all. And still, he said, it’s one of the most vivid locations in the movie.

Not only are the dunes part of a pivotal scene, but all of the movie’s star characters appear in it. They include: Johnny Depp (Jack Sparrow), Geoffrey Rush (Barbossa), Orlando Bloom (Will Turner), Keira Knightley (Elizabeth Swann), Naomie Harris (Tia Dalma) and McNally (Gibbs).

That offers confirmation that in fact, some of Hollywood’s brightest stars were in Guadalupe in October to film the scenes. At the time of filming, no one close to the movie would confirm their presence, and security at the remote dunes was tight.

“It may open up the Santa Maria Valley to a whole new generation of movie tourists,” said Medved.

To that end, Fandango is touting Guadalupe, and surrounding Santa Maria Valley hotspots, as a place to visit in its online travel guide to this summer’s movie location-destinations, accessible at www.fandango.com/summermovies.

The guide features the Rancho Guadalupe Dunes Preserve as a place to hike, the Historic Santa Maria Inn as a place to stay, the Santa Ynez wine country, including Firestone Vineyard and Los Olivos Cafe, as places to visit and eat, and Figueroa Mountain Road as a place for a scenic drive. That road recently starred in Quentin Tarantino’s “Grindhouse.”

Other pirate destinations that receive attention at Fandango include: Leo Carrillo State Beach, Calif.; the Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah; Niagara Falls, N.Y.; and, of course, Dominica in the Caribbean.

“Guadalupe Dunes is one of those great hidden secrets,” said Medved. “It has been seen frequently on the big screen by moviegoers... This perhaps is the highest-profile film to be shot there since ‘The Ten Commandments’ in 1923.”

Whether people flock to Guadalupe to see the dunes that Capt. Jack Sparrow calls “World’s End” remains to be seen. But it already appears that the latest “Pirates” movie will attract a record crowd.

Two days before the movie opened, Medved said, advance ticket sales for the movie were swelling on Fandango.

“Pirates” was already accounting for 83 percent of all weekly ticket sales — three times as many tickets as last year’s “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” had racked up at the same point. That movie grossed more than $423 million at the box office.

LIGHTS! CAMERA! GUADALUPE!

Movies filmed at the Guadalupe Dunes:

“The Sheik,” 1921

“The Ten Commandments,” 1923

“The Thief of Baghdad,” 1924

“The Son of the Sheik” 1926

“The Water Hole,” 1928

“Beau Sabreur,” 1928

“Morocco,” 1930

“The Last Outpost,” 1935

“Strange Cargo,” 1940

“Sahara,” 1943

“G.I. Jane,” 1997

“The Odd Couple II,” 1998

“The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle,” 2000

“Hidalgo,” 2004

You can learn more about these and other films shot at the Guadalupe Dunes in “Co-Starring: The Guadalupe Dunes; 85 Years of Hollywood Movies in the Guadalupe Dunes,” a book compiled by Peter Brosnan, who, along with archaeologist John Parker, has spent years trying to unearth the remains of the set of the original “Ten Commandments,” which are buried under the dunes. Along the way, the two have discovered much about other films shot at the dunes.

Brosnan’s book is available now at the Dunes Center, 1055 Guadalupe St. 343-2455.

Emily Welly can be reached at 739-2220 or ewelly@santamariatimes.com.