According to
Drew McWeeny out in Hawaii- Disney have been whispering in the ears of the cast and crew on the set of
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (May, 2011) telling them to set aside a large block of time in 'the very near future' from their schedules so they can shoot a 'Pirates 5' and 'Pirates 6' back-to-back. Basically it's the same bold and risky strategy they used after the first film hit big which resulted in
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) and
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007) - two billion dollar films that were messy and tonally all over the place from director
Gore Verbinski who seemed overwhelmed by the daunting size of the production. There's very few times in the history of film where back-to-back films have resulted in quality work and without either the blueprint of a completed text such as
Peter Jackson had with J.R.R. Tolkien's
The Lord of the Rings and now
The Hobbit - or an astonishing long time to prepare a script that justifies a Part I and Part II film - then there's going to be large chunks where the film will feel anchored down by filler. Not that Disney could care less as long as people keep turning up.
Johnny Depp ain't getting any younger - and they will want to get as many films out of him as they can before he gets bored of playing Jack Sparrow, which doesn't look to be anytime soon. Though colour me very curious over this news as I had thought the forthcoming Verbinski/Depp team-up
The Lone Ranger was to kick start a new series that would eventually replace POTC.
In any event, Depp won't be free to begin shooting on this until mid-2012 (as he has Dark Shadows with Burton, then Ranger for Disney) but you can guarantee if Pirates 4 ends up taking a billion dollars at the box office once again then a sequel(s) will be greenlit in a heartbeat and if director
Rob Marshall wants to do them, no doubt he will get the big paycheck offer. That's unless Marshall has completely dropped the ball, which well, he did with
Nine didn't he? I guess we will get a good glimpse at 'On Stranger Tides' when the trailer debuts Monday, Dec. 13th.