Fourth Pirates film among major studio announcements
In a decision that has moviegoers reaching for their eye-liner and practicing their one-liners, Johnny Depp has agreed to reprise his role of Captain Jack Sparrow in a fourth installment of the
Pirates of the Caribbean film series (release date to be determined). Producer Jerry Bruckheimer will return to oversee the project, building on a trilogy that earned a combined $2.6 billion at the box office.
Additional a-Depp-tations
Depp will continue making himself at home in the house of mouse as he steps into the roles of Tonto in Bruckheimer's big-screen adaptation of the classic television series "The Lone Ranger" and the Mad Hatter in Tim Burton's version of
Alice in Wonderland, both in development. In related
Wonderland news, Burton's production has signed Anne Hathaway (
The Princess Diaries) and Helena Bonham Carter (
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street) to play the roles of the White and Red Queens respectively.
Accelerating Cars
It appears that Mater and Lighting McQueen's return to the big screen in Disney-Pixar's
Cars 2 will hit the gas a bit, speeding into theaters a year earlier than originally planned. The new summer 2011 release in theaters and
Disney Digital 3-D will mirror the planned opeing date of Cars Land, an expansive addtion in the works for
Disney's California Adventure Park at the
Disneyland Resort in Anaheim. The
Cars crew also stars in a series of animated shorts, appearing in theaters and on television's Disney Channel.
In other Disney movie news...
- Fan's won't have to wait long to
Race to Witch Mountain, starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson (
Gameplan) in a re-imagining of Disney's 1975 hit
Escape to Witch Mountain, as the film will open in theaters on March 13.
-
Earth, the first motion picture from the newly created Disneynature label, is scheduled to debut in U.S. theaters this Earth Day, April 22. Learn more about this and other planned Disneynature releases at
www.disney.com/nature.
- A sequel to the 1982 Disney classic
Tron is in the works.
- Oprah Winfrey has signed on to voice the mother of the princess in the Christmas 2009 hand-drawn animated feature
The Princess and the Frog.
- Jim Carrey (
Yes Man) will make his Disney debut in the role of Scrooge (at five different ages) and all thre ghosts of Christmas in
Disney's A Christmas Carol, to be created in 3-D performance capture.
- Producer Jerry Bruckheimer will reunite with actor Nicolas Cage in three upcoming projects:
G-FORCE,
The Sorcerer's Apprentice, and a third installment of the
National Treasure series.
