We first
heard in December that Disney had been 'whispering' to the cast and crew on the set of the May released
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides that they were hoping to move quickly on a potential fifth installment of the swashbuckling, adventure franchise. This week, official movement on making that happen took place.
Deadline are reporting that
Terry Rossio, co-screenwriter of the whole series to date, has officially signed on to pen
Pirates of the Caribbean 5. Interestingly, his writing partner
Ted Elliott, won't be back this time, presumably he's as tired coming up with hilarious situations for Jack Sparrow to stumble himself into as he are imagining them. Disney are also set to offer POTC 4 director
Rob Marshall the first dibs on the 5quel. Why the rush then in getting POTC 5 in development when we are still months away from film no. 4? Well, I imagine it's simply because Disney want to secure
Johnny Depp's return as quickly as they can, and Disney being the commercial opportunists they are, won't be happy unless Depp is making at least one huge movie a year at The Mouse.
Depp told EW recently that As long as we can put all the puzzle pieces together, I would most definitely consider it, POTC 5 (rumoured to be shot back-to-back with POTC 6) then could set sail to film as early as mid-to-late 2012 after Depp has shot
Dark Shadows with Tim Burton and
The Lone Ranger for Disney.