Corona | Coming Attractions

Confirmed by Variety, Pirates trilogy director Gore Verbinski has gone on the record stating that he will not return behind the camera on the fourth film.  "I had a fantastic time bringing Pirates to life, and I am eternally grateful to Jerry, Johnny and the rest of the creative and production team," Verbinski said. "I'm looking forward to all of us crossing paths again in the future."

Promoting her new film Edge of Love, actress Keira Knightly was asked by Moviefone if she had any interest in reprising Elizabeth Swann again in a new Pirates movie. "It was a completely fantastic experience, and it was an amazingly large portion of my life, but I don't think I need to go there again. I think that it's done. But I'm very excited to see the next one," she told the site. "And [Johnny Depp] is so wonderful in that character. I think it'll be wonderful."

We've had a reader send in a scoop that there is a confirmed release date for Pirates of the Caribbean 4, namely May 25, 2012. Unfortunately that's not true. While some websites are giving the 5/25/12 date as the one when we can expect to see the further adventures of Captain Jack, Walt Disney Pictures has never issued a statement on a targeted release date.

However, there is some strength to 2012 being the likely date for Pirates 4. In November 2008 producer Jerry Bruckheimer told members of the press that Disney was "pushing towards 2012" for the sequel but never went further and indicated the studio had pegged a specific day for the film's release. When one is given by Disney we'll be the first to tell you.

Take it with a grain of salt but The Daily Mail is reporting that they know how much Johnny Depp will take home for his work on Pirates of the Caribbean 4. According to the paper's insider, Depp is going to take home the impressive sum of £32 million pounds or about $56 million in U.S. dollars. Says the source, "It's a lot of swag but there's only one Johnny Depp. They simply cannot make another Pirates movie without Jack Sparrow."

As evidenced by Depp's showing at last month's special Disney marketing event, he's signed on to do the next movie which does mean that the details concerning his paycheck are ironed out. But wouldn't Depp (or his agent) be more prone to agree to a deal where he could pocket a percentage of the movie's gross? That is the way other huge box office stars do it when signing on to do sequels.

As part of a presentation talking about future high profile projects coming from Walt Disney Pictures, the studio unveiled that a deal has been struck with Johnny Depp to play Captain Jack Sparrow once again in Pirates of the Caribbean 4. Depp was on hand at the Walt Disney Showcase to take part in the announcement complete in pirate garb -- and with the addition of a small mask on his face as he will also be playing the role of Tonto in Disney's Lone Ranger movie. The 45-year-old actor is about to start working on Tim Burton's latest project, a 3-D movie of Alice in Wonderland, where he will play the role of the Mad Hatter.