Pirates of the Caribbean 4

After entrenching itself as one of the most successful movie franchises of all time Pirates of the Caribbean is being resurrected for a fourth instalment. To be honest, after the last one, I’m not too sure what it’s going to be like. But I do love Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow… so I’m going to give it the benefit of the doubt.

The forth installation of the film has been officially named On Stranger Tides and is said to be about Jack Sparrow and Hector Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) as they embark on a quest to find the fountain of youth. No surprises there given the ending of At World’s End. What might come as a surprise to many fans is that the characters of Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann will not be returning for this edition. Both Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley agreed that their characters’ storylines ended at the end of the fourth film… which I tend to agree with.

The storyline seems to be heavily based on a novel by Tim Powers also called On Stranger Tides, written in 1987. The book follows the exploits of ‘Jack Shandy’ who travels to the new world to confront an uncle who has stolen his inheritance. His ship is waylaid by pirates, who force him to join their crew and the usual pirate festivities begin – drinking, fighting, drinking, sailing and drinking. Somehow the fountain of youth makes its way into the story, as does Blackbeard the legendary pirate. Quite how this all fits together I’m not sure. But the book has won some awards so the story must be okay.

Filming for On Stranger Tides will begin in Hawaii sometime toward the middle of this year (probably June) and the film has a tentative release date of May next year. At the helm of the project is Rob Marshall whose previous films include Chicago, Memoirs of a Geisha and most recently – Nine which has been panned by most critics, but has still managed to garner a host of award nominations. It’s quite an interesting selection given his past work. Let’s hope he can pull off a big budget blockbuster.

I’ll keep you informed.

Alice in Wonderland

Tim Burton is at it again. This time he has reworked one of the most loved childrens stories of all time – Alice in Wonderland. The film is set when Alice is 19 years old. She is attends a party at a Victorian estate where she learns that she is about to be proposed to by a rich young suitor, in front of hundreds of rich snooty people. She runs away, following a white rabbit down a hole, ending up in Wonderland… a place she has visited before but cannot remember. Once there she embarks on a mission to stop the Red Queen, and her evil beast – the Jabberwock.

It all sounds a little strange to me and watching the trailer makes me wonder how many times Burton and his crew have engaged in ellicit, drug related activities. But I suppose that is what has made him famous, and earned him the big bucks in the process. The film is set for release on the 5th March 2010 and the cast is, as always, headed by Johnny Depp (as the mad hatter) and Helena Bonham Carter (as the Red Queen). Other actors include Mia Wasikowska (as Alice), Anne Hathaway (as the White Queen), Michael Sheen (as the White Rabbit) and Alan Rickman (as the Catepillar).

No doubt the film will be quite fantastic, with some enchanting sets and weird and wonderful characters. I’m also sure that Johnny Depp will be his usual awesome self – he really does love these outrageous roles. To get a glimpse of the action you can check out the trailer here.