Movies

Rob Marshall to Direct Pirates of the Caribbean 4

By  · Published on July 31st, 2009

About a week ago, word came down the pipe that Disney is looking to kick-start production on Pirates of the Caribbean 4, even though director Gore Verbinski has bailed on the project.

Now according to the folks at Variety, Disney has found a new director in Rob Marshall, whose previous work includes Chicago, Memoirs of a Geisha and the upcoming Nine.

A choreographer turned director, Marshall has long focused his career on that which includes music. This would be his first turn as director of a big-budget adventure movie. It’s a very risky move for producer Jerry Bruckheimer and the folks at Disney, as Marshall is a coin-toss choice for this project – audiences will be expecting something on par with the first three movies, something on an epic scale.

Of course, I would remind instant detractors that Gore Verbinski hadn’t directed much of anything beyond The Ring prior to starting the Pirates franchise. And that didn’t turn out too poorly (as long as you don’t count over a billion dollars in domestic box office receipts as a poor showing).

Pen will need to be put to paper before we can really speculate, but for now we’re open to the discussion. So discuss it with us, people:

What do you think of Rob Marshall as the director of the next Pirates movie?

Neil Miller is the persistently-bearded Publisher of Film School Rejects, Nonfics, and One Perfect Shot. He's also the Executive Producer of the One Perfect Shot TV show (currently streaming on HBO Max) and the co-host of Trial By Content on The Ringer Podcast Network. He can be found on Twitter here: @rejects (He/Him)