Back in September, Walt Disney Pictures threw a huge presentation for all their upcoming movies, which culminated in big announcements about new installments of two of the studio's biggest franchises done in collaboration with Jerry Bruckheimer Productions,
Pirates of the Caribbean 4 and a third "National Treasure," as well as their intentions of reinventing
The Lone Ranger. (You can read part of our report on that presentation here.)
Since the announcement, there's been a lot of rumors especially about that fourth "Pirates" movie, but earlier today, a group of journalists had some time to sit down with Jerry Bruckheimer on the set of potentially his next big Disney franchise, based on the video game
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, to get some first-hand info about these projects.
As far as getting all of these new projects off the ground, Bruckheimer joked, "That's why I can't spend a lot of time here. We have a lot of things," and mentioned some of the projects he's actively working on. "We're doing another 'National Treasure' so we're working on that, we're preparing '
Sorcerer's Apprentice' right now—it's going to be shot in New York—we have another picture that's in post-production that we're finishing called 'Confessions of a Shopaholic' with Isla Fischer and Hugh Dancy, so that comes out in February."
As far as approaching the sequels for "National Treasure" and "Pirates of the Caribbean," Bruckheimer says that both are having scripts written. "We've sat with the writers and we're working up the story and plotlines right now. They're in the process of finishing 'The Lone Ranger' so they're working on both of those simultaneously, same set of writers, Elliot and Rossio, who did all three 'Pirates' and worked on 'National Treasure (2)'"
When asked whether they might consider gearing another "Pirates" movie to IMAX, based on the success Warner Bros. had with
The Dark Knight, Bruckheimer responded, "Absolutely. I'd love to do it, so let's just see if we can work it through the production schedule with everything else."
Gyllenhaal plays Dastan, a young prince in sixth century Persia who must join forces with Tamina (Arterton), a feisty and exotic princess, to prevent a villainous nobleman from possessing the Sands of Time, a gift from the gods that can reverse time and allow its possessor to rule the world.
Prince of Persia is being produced by powerhouse producer Jerry Bruckheimer, directed by Donnie Brasco, Mona Lisa Smile and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire helmer Mike Newell, and written by both Jeffrey Nachmanoff (The Day After Tomorrow) and one of the game's creators, Jordan Mechner. The film was scheduled to start shooting in July in both Morocco and England. Prince of Persia stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Gemma Arterton, Ben Kingsley, and Alfred Molina.
