In a laundry-list story about upcoming Disney projects, Variety‘s Marc Graser has reported that Johnny Depp has agreed to reprise his role as Captain Jack Sparrow in a fourth Pirates of the Caribbean pic and also play Tonto in a bigscreen adaptation of The Lone Ranger, both of which will be produced by Jerry Bruckheimer.

Johnny Depp; Jay Silverheels as Tonto in the ’50s TV series The Lone Ranger

Whoa, whoa. I think we need to repeat this. Johnny Depp is going to play Tonto in a big-budget Lone Ranger movie. Meaning that it’s going to be a jape? How could Depp’s Tonto be performed with any sincerity? How can it not be satiric-ironic-moronic?
Depp will also star as the Mad Hatter in Tim Burton‘s Alice in Wonderland pic.
Disney distrib chief Dick Cook has called the upcoming pics for the rest of this year and 2009 “the most creative slate of films in Disney history,” Graser reports. These films will include High School Musical 3: Senior Year, Bedtime Stories, Race to Witch Mountain, Hannah Montana: The Movie, Old Dogs, The Princess and the Frog, Robert Zemeckis’ A Christmas Carol and Pixar’s Up.
The most creative slate of films in Disney history? Not in the view of Ain’t It Cool‘s Mr. Beaks.
Kimosabe means “trusty scout” or “trusty friend.”