Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides is gearing up for production this summer, with the recent casting of Penelope Cruz and Ian McShane as Blackbeard, and now AICN has directed us to a news report from Hawaii New Now which shows The Black Pearl docking at the Kalaeloa Barbers Point Harbor in Oahu. The ship ventured on a 10mph journey from the Bahamas to Hawaii via Los Angeles, and will now be worked on in preparation for filming under the direction of Rob Marshall.

The report also talks about how the production is expected to generate around $85 million in direct and indirect spending on the Islands, and provide hundreds of jobs for local residents.

When we first heard that Blackbeard would be involved in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides I immediately thought that Gary Oldman would suit the role (just like he suits almost every role). Then with Rob Marshall coming aboard to direct there was a small possibility that he may decide to bring Daniel-Day Lewis with him from Nine to play the role (as he recently did with Penelope Cruz).

Both of those name actors would have been great Blackbeard’s; however it is often the less obvious choices that result in the best casting decisions.

According to Heat Vision British actor Ian McShane is in talks to play the villian Blackbeard in the next Pirates outing. Over recent years McShane has provided his voice to Coraline and Kung Fu Panda, and has starred in TV shows Deadwood and Kings.

From what we have heard so far it appears Blackbeard and Sparrow will both be going after the Fountain of Youth. I hope the inclusion of Blackbeard doesn’t mean Barbossa will be out of the picture, as Geoffrey Rush’s character was one of the best things about the trilogy. Johnny Depp recently confirmed that Orlando Bloom and Kiera Knightly wouldn’t be returning, but we knew that already.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides will begin filming this summer in Hawaii, and will be released next May.

We’ve known for a while that when Rob Marshall steps behind the camera of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides this summer, the cameras would roll without Keira Knightley or Orlando Bloom in front of them. The Hollywood Reporter’s Heat Vision blog reports (via ComingSoon) Penelope Cruz is in talks to join Johnny Depp in the new installment in the franchise.

We don’t have a lot of information about her character yet, just that she is supposed to be “[Captain Jack] Sparrow’s foil and equal in many ways.”

Cruz’s potential casting makes sense considering she just worked with Rob Marshall on Nine. I think she’ll make a great addition to the world crafted by writers Terry Rossio and Ted Elliot – she can play a flamboyant character with the best of them (see: Vicky Cristina Barcelona). This announcement is a step in the right direction, but it’ll take a lot more than Penelope Cruz to wash the bad taste of Pirates 2 and 3 out of my mouth.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides begins filming in June, so we can expect more casting announcements in the near future. Daniel-Day Lewis for Blackbeard anyone?

For a moment there seemed to be a curse in Hollywood plaguing films about to take their fourth outing. Paul Greengrass left Bourne 4, putting the status of the film in question. Recently Spider-Man 4 fell apart, and it looked like Pirates 4 wouldn’t be setting sail after Johnny Depp said his passion for the project had been “severely dampened” following the departure of Walt Disney chairman Dick Cook last year.

However, things improved for Pirates with Rob Marshall coming on-board to direct, and producer Bruckheimer hinting at a June start. Now according to The Honolulu Advertiser Disney has made plans to film Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides in Hawaii.

The fourth installment in the action-adventure series will be shot on Kauai and Oahu this summer. It is scheduled for release in summer 2011.

Lingle’s office said filming is expected to generate about $85 million in direct and indirect spending in the Islands and provide hundreds of jobs for residents.

“We’ve always sought out the most extraordinary and exotic locations for the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ films and previously shot briefly on both Maui and Molokai for ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End,’ ” Bruckheimer said.

“Hawaii provides an amazing range of both land and seascapes and we’re delighted to return for ‘On Stranger Tides

The trilogy filmed in some very exotic locations, so it seems the trend will continue. I suppose spending a few months in Hawaii can’t be too bad can it?

From what we’ve heard Jack Sparrow will be heading for the Fountain of Youth, as hinted at the end of At World’s End. The only cast member confirmed is Depp, however Geoffrey Rush who plays Barbossa will probably be back to provide a bit of competition.

Following the news that Spider-Man 4 may not hit it’s May 2011 release date due to problems with the script, Disney and Marvel (who are now one) have moved the release dates of both Thor and Pirates of the Caribbean 4. With major competition during the summer months studios have to be quick to claim their spot.

According to Box Office Mojo Thor has been moved forward and has taken Spider-Man 4’s slot on May 6th 2011.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides has been given Thor’s old slot: May 20th. Previously it had just been given a simple ‘Summer 2011′ target.

Summer 2011 is going to be on hell of a year for blockbusters. As well Thor and Pirates 4 (and Spidey if things work out) there’s Green Lantern, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, Transformers 3, Captain America: The First Avenger. We also can’t forget the big screen debut of The Smurfs…in 3D!

While on the rounds promoting Nine director Rob Marshall spoke to ComingSoon about Pirates of the Caribbean 4 which he is attached to direct. He told them how it all came about, and he also gave an update on it’s current status.

I was so surprised they called me,” he told us when asked how that gig came about. “It was Johnny Depp and Jerry Bruckheimer. Jerry called me, but Johnny was interested in working with me. It’s a wonderful thing when something like that happens, so we sat and met and he could not have been more lovely. He’s the nicest man. I’ve been very lucky to work with some great people and he’s one of them. So I could tell that we could maybe do this, and then they offered it to me.”

“We’re still trying to figure out if it’s going to all happen,” he continued. “If it happens–I think Johnny’s doing a movie with Angelina Jolie in the spring (that’s The Tourist)–so if it happens, we’ll start in the summer, and we’ll see. I’m excited. If it happens, it happens. I’d be thrilled. I just love Johnny and I’m excited about the genre.”

“I would need a script first,” he laughed when asked what direction he hoped to take the movie visually. “It all comes from the script and the story. You serve the story and you find out what the story is and then you work from there, that’s it. It’s simple.”

The question on most minds (okay, maybe not but we asked it anyway) was whether Marshall had the sea legs to direct a “Pirates” movie but he didn’t seem to nervous about the amount of time he might be spending on water. “I like the sea, but I know a lot of it I don’t actually have to be on the boat itself,” he said, “I can be off with my monitor and they can be on the boat. I’m sure I’ll jump on there and be on there many times because I actually enjoy water so I’m excited about that.”

Disney have already set a summer 2011 release date and Geoffrey Rush who plays Barbossa said back in September that he was keeping his schedule open for a possible spring start, however it seems something has knocked it off course recently. It could have been the departure of Dick Cook, the longtime chairman of The Walt Disney Studios a few months ago. At the time Depp said that there is “a crack in my enthusiasm at the moment“, so could the uncertainty be due to Depp?

Back in July it was reported that Rob Marshall, director of Chicago, Memoirs of a Geisha and upcoming musical Nine, was in negotiations with Disney to direct Pirates of the Caribbean 4. Since then the film got a name change (Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides) and Johnny Depp wasn’t sure if he still wanted to do it. Well at a recent screening of Nine Marshall spoke briefly about the film, and it seems things have worked out nicely:

From AICN:

When asked about his next project (by Nora Ephron, who hosted the Q&A), he replied ‘y’know, 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….”’ The only additional thing he mentioned about it was that he had a wonderful meeting with Johnny a little while ago and that they’re both excited to work together.

It will be interesting to see where Marshall takes the franchise. Because of the scale and cost of the last two films Disney want to tone things down slightly, so we should hopefully get a movie similar to the first film.

Last month Johnny Depp appeared in full Jack Sparrow costume at the D23 Expo and announced the title of the next Pirates movie would be Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. A quick Google search lead to a book of the same name written by author Tim Powers in 1987. Had Disney bought the rights, or was it a strange coincidence that both involved pirates? Well the L.A Times recently sat down with Powers himself, and it turns out he sold the rights 3 years ago, and he’s pretty happy about it.

“I was still — as far as I understood — not free to talk about it,” the author told me Monday. “Then about a week ago my agent wrote and said, ‘You’re now able to say that in fact Disney did option the book.’ That happened a while ago, it’ll be three years in April.”

The novelist, with a dozen books to his credit, is still a bit dazed by the fact that a book he published during the Reagan administration will setting sail in May 2011 as new edition of a Disney franchise that has racked up $1.78 billion in worldwide box office since hoisting its flag in 2003. “Yes, I’m thrilled,” Power said, “I think it’s great.”

“I’ve watched all the movies several times, of course, and I think the clear thing they would use is the trip to the Fountain of Youth,” Powers said. “My main character doesn’t overlap with Jack Sparrow at all [in personality or circumstance]; they’re totally different characters. I suppose they might overlap the Geoffrey Rush character Barbossa and Blackbeard. The only thing I feel certain they will hold on to is the Fountain of Youth since they telegraphed that at the end of the last movie.” Either way, Powers said he is not going to walk into the theater with too many expectations other than hoping to have a good time as a moviegoer.

All too often authors sign the rights away for the money and don’t want anything more to do with it, so it’s good to see an author actually excited about his work being adapted. If elements of your Pirate novel are going to be used in a movie, it might as well be part of the biggest pirates franchise out there.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End left the doors wide open for Hector Barbossa to return, and it hinted that both he and Jack Sparrow would be sailing the seas again to reach the Fountain of Youth. However, the only cast member that we know will be returning is Johnny Depp (depending on the script), so what about Geoffrey Rush? Well MTV caught up with him recently and asked him about his involvement in Pirates of the Caribbean 4.

The Australian actor said he’s definitely set to reprise his role as nefarious Captain Barbossa, and has been told to keep his schedule open for a possible start to filming next spring.

Said Rush to Josh Horowitz: “They’re waiting for the screenplay writers to put together something that’s beyond the trilogy, take it off into a new direction so that it’s fresh and hopefully really interesting for an audience, that they’re not going to just sausage-machine out something else, which wouldn’t be so good.”

Barbossa was my favourite character from the films so I’m glad he’s returning. It’ll be interesting to see how the writers develop the Barbossa/Sparrow dynamic as those two characters together produced some of the best scenes in the trilogy, whether they were comparing telescope lengths or having deep conversations about an ever-changing world.

Just over a week ago Johnny Depp appeared in full Jack Sparrow costume to announce the new title, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, and a release date of summer 2011 for the next Pirates movie. However since then Dick Cook, the longtime chairman of The Walt Disney Studios, decided to step down and Depp has been quoted as saying he is “shocked and very sad” about this news.

From the L.A Times:

The actor said it was because of Cook that he ended up working with Disney in the first place. Cook had been trying woo Depp for years with various projects including doing voice-overs for animated films and one day, in Cook’s office, the studio chief threw out an idea that Depp pounced on.

“He said, ‘We’re thinking about doing this ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ movie,’” Depp recalled. “I said I was in. This was before there was a script or anything.”

As for the fourth planned “Pirates” movie, Depp said while he has a potential deal in place that will depend on how good the script is, his passion for the project at the moment has been severely dampened by the news that Cook will no longer be around.

“There’s a fissure, a crack in my enthusiasm at the moment,” Depp said. “It was all born in that office.”

Writers Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio must feel a lot of pressure on them after reading this. The future of the billion dollar Pirates of the Caribbean franchise rests on their writing abilities, as no Depp means no movie.