Pirates 4 director nearly on deck

And it looks like the winner is going to be Rob Marshall, whose 2002 adaptation of Chicago took home best picture at the Oscars. Nothing is quite confirmed but Variety has this bit of info that makes it sound about as ready to go as it gets.

Disney is on the verge of putting Rob Marshall in as director of a fourth installment of “Pirates of the Caribbean,” a move that puts the film on track for a 2010 production start, with Johnny Depp back as Captain Jack Sparrow.

With that 2010 start date for a production like this they're going to have to take Marshall or find someone else very quickly since the prepro on this is going to be a bear.

Marshall also directed Memoirs of a Geisha in 2005 which leads me to believe that even with no content yet to judge, we're going to be in for something VISUALLY pleasing. I'm likening it to the Harry Potter franchise in my head, though maybe not as drastic. Chris Columbus took the first two and made great looking films, and then Alfonso Cuaron came on for Prisoner and made a great looking movie with style.

That may be a bit of an extreme example as Marshall's style isn't quite as defined as Cuaron's, but you get the point I hope.

Look for Johnny Depp to be back on screen in 2011 with a fresh new trilogy to follow.