In what perhaps isn’t that surprising news, uber-producer Jerry Bruckheimer has told Hitfix that while many had been expecting Johnny Depp to make The Lone Ranger before Pirates Of The Carribean 4, it’s likely to be the other way around.
With the Pirates franchise being by far the highest grossing in Disney’s history (Pirates 2 is in the select band of the four films that have grossed over a billion at the worldwide box office), Bruckheimer says that getting Captain Jack back on screen is now the studio’s main priority. Well, duh.
Bruckheimer also said that he’s seen some pages of the script for Pirates 4 and that it is, as rumoured, “going a whole new way”. This probably means no Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley and instead shifting the focus onto Jack. That’s not a bad thing, as the Brit duo did come across as two wet fish in the Pirates sequels. Bruckehimer also said he’d be up for Gore Verbinski returning as director, even though Verbinski has said he is stepping aside so he can make Bioshock. However with that movie looking like it’s going to the wall, there is room for him to return. Bruckheimer merely said, “He created the franchise. He had a lot to add to that, but it’s going to be up to him.”
Pirates 4 is currently due out in 2012, although Bruckheimer’s comments suggest the schedule might get sped up. However while Pirates 4 is good and all, to be honest we’d actually like to see The Lone Ranger more. That could be great fun, especially with the ever more commercial Depp in the lead.