Rob Marshall Boards 'Pirates 4'

Source: Slashfilm

At a Directors Guild of America screening of his new musical Nine, director Rob Marshall confirmed that he would be taking over for Gore Verbinski on the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean film.

When asked if he had been offered the Disney sequel, Marshall replied, “It’s something that I was offered and never in the world thought I would do but then I was like ‘why not?’… I’m doing Pirates of the Caribbean.” Marshall also claimed he had met with Depp to discuss the project.

Years ago, Disney optioned Tim Powers' pirate book On Stranger Tides, which concerns the location of the Fountain of Youth. Since Disney has already applied the same title to the sequel, and Johnny Depp's character Jack Sparrow was last seen looking for the Fountain of Youth at the end of the third film, it seems likely that the new film will be following Powers' book, although Powers claimed in a recent interview that he had no knowledge of what Disney was planning.

The three Pirates movies combined have grossed more than one billion in the United States, with the last entry, At World's End, contributing $309.4 million to the total haul. Marshall also directed Chicago in 2002, which won six Oscars and was nominated for seven more. Nine opens in limited release on December 18th, and goes wide on Christmas Day.