POTC 4: No Verbinski

[Barbossa]

According to Mania.com, Gore Verbinski has decided not to do Pirates o the Caribbean 4:
Verbinski Passes on PIRATES 4 - Mania.com

Verbinski Passes on PIRATES 4
Will helm BioShock instead.

By Jarrod Sarafin April 08, 2009
Source: Variety

There will likely be a fourth Pirates of the Caribbean but it will be without director Gore Verbinski at the wheel. Variety reports the director of the original Pirates trilogy has decided to pass on the fourth installment, which is expected to begin photography in 2010. After spending six years on the three pics, which plundered $2.6 billion in receipts, he has notified producer Jerry Bruckheimer and distributor Walt Disney Pictures of his plans to depart from the franchise.


"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." says the director. "I'm looking forward to all of us crossing paths again in the future."

Johnny Depp is still attached to reprise the role of Captain Jack Sparrow.


Verbinski will instead focus on other projects that include Bioshock, a Universal Pictures adaptation of the bestselling vidgame that has a John Logan script and is likely to be Verbinski's next film as a director.


And the director is still working with Depp. He has been directing Rango, a CG-animated film for Paramount Pictures, with Depp voicing the title character. Logan also wrote the script based on an idea by Verbinski. Paramount plans to debut the film March 2011.


Other projects for Gore's Blind Wink Prods. include a modern take on the Hasbro board game Clue and a drama based on a Wall Street Journal article about the online fantasy role-playing world and its debilitating impact on the real lives of players.

[nathan detroit]

Apart from Depp, I couldn't care less if none of the original cast and crew came back for POTC4 (although I do like Geoffrey Rush as Barbossa). After Part 3 I am inclined to suggest that they should just leave well enough alone.

[sir clinksalot]

I actually see this as good news.

[Aladdin]

Apart from Depp, I couldn't care less if none of the original cast and crew came back for POTC4 (although I do like Geoffrey Rush as Barbossa). After Part 3 I am inclined to suggest that they should just leave well enough alone.

I would just add a couple of people to that list, Ted and Terry, the writers.

[nathan detroit]

I would just add a couple of people to that list, Ted and Terry, the writers.

Agreed, except that Part 3 was a bloated mess. I can only see this being successful if they get back to basics with the story.

[BC_DisneyGeek]

This worries me. A fresh perspective can be good sometimes, but the first three were just so brilliant. This feels like doing a third Batman without Nolan at the helm.

They need to bring back the same writers. I know part 2 and 3 felt like a jumbled mess to some, and I admittedly found the amount of story to follow a bit much, but I really really appreciate the complexity of the story now. Too many movies are dumbed down, and the depth of the POTC trilogy helps it hold up over repeated viewings, and is a key reason I consider the trilogy to be a masterpiece.

Depp gets most of the credit for the success of the films, and deservedly so, but I think Geoffrey Rush as Barbossa is not given enough credit. The second movie is easily my least favorite, because of his absence. His humour is sorely missed.

Barbossa is the only character that really holds his own against Sparrow, and the relationship between them should be a part of any future installment, imo.

The rest of the cast is excellent, but I think the series will survive just fine without many of them.