Yo-ho-ho, and a pop-six-squish, unh-uh, Cicero, Lipschitz. Variety says Disney is close to signing Chicago and Nine director Rob Marshall to take the helm of the currently rudderless Pirates of the Caribbean 4, on course for a 2010 production start.
Producer Jerry Bruckheimer and Disney have been meeting with a number of directors in recent weeks, because the studio wants to pull the “Pirates” film together and have Depp star in it before he does “The Lone Ranger” for the producer and the studio. While Marshall’s involvement wasn’t immediately confirmed, sources said things look good enough that the studio has begun casting new characters that will appear in the picture.
It is big business for Disney, as the “Pirates” trilogy grossed $2.6 billion worldwide with Verbinski at the helm. Sources say unless things break down at the last moment, Marshall will be steering the pirate vehicle’s next installment.
In completely unrelated news, Ridley Scott is said to be “attached” to direct the prequel to Alien…
…in which the crew of a commercial towing ship returning to Earth is awakened and sent to respond to a distress signal from a nearby planetoid. The crew discovers too late that the signal generated by an empty ship was meant to warn them.
(thanks to Watermelons for reminding us both ships are preparing to launch.)