Disney Finds Its Leading Man In Depp

After helping Disney to earn $2.6 billion with the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, the House of Mouse is locking down Johnny Depp with a three picture deal. (link) Depp has proven over the past 5-10 years that he really is a top tier talent with the ability to open even the most eclectic of movies. It is just unfortunate that this deal includes Depp reprising his role as Captain Jack Sparrow in a fourth Pirates movie.

Don’t get me wrong, I loved the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie. But similar to the Matrix trilogy, each subsequent movie has gotten worse. Now the Pirates sequels are no where near as bad as the Matrix sequels, but you get my point. Hopefully the upcoming fourth Capt. Jack Sparrow movie will benefit from a new and unconnected storyline. Also as part of the deal, Depp has agreed to star in the Jerry Bruckheimer produced remake of The Lone Ranger as the masked hero’s sidekick, Tonto.


And rounding out the three movie deal will be Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland. Depp will star as the Mad Hatter, a role he was born to play. The movie, scheduled to be released in 2010, “will be shot using 3-D and performance capture technology similar to that used for Beowulf.” (link) It sounds like a very cool project, and I cannot wait to see Burton’s bizarre take on this children’s classic. Alice in Wonderland will mark the seventh time Depp has starred in a Tim Burton directed feature film (Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Corpse Bride, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street)

Indiana Jones Mighty Muggs Meet Their Doom

According to multiple sources from around the web, all of the Indiana Jones themed toy lines are coming to an end relatively soon. It sounds like all previously announced Indiana Jones Mighty Muggs waves have been canceled, but I am not sure if this also applies to the EE Exclusive Mighty Muggs figures or not.


Most movie themed toy lines don’t typically survive once the films they are based on leave the theaters, but I thought these would at least make it until the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was released on DVD. I believe there had been some hope that Indy would prove to have stronger staying power than previous franchises and Hasbro would be able to carry on producing the various toy lines centered around the Harrison Ford character.


But, no matter how popular a movie is its toy line is sure to fail eventually. Just look at the Pirates of the Caribbean, Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter films, combined those movie franchises have grossed billions, but you’d be hard pressed to find their action figures on store shelves today. The fact that Indiana Jones action figures have taken up so much shelf space the past six months actually says a lot about the character’s (and Harrison Ford’s) pop cultural significance. How many other 60 year actors could be selling this many toys of a WWII era hero? Definitely not Arnold or Stallone!

The only movie franchises with real staying power has proven to be Star Wars and DC Comics/Marvel Comics’ super heroes, but that is primarily based on those properties’ abilities to expand into other formats in order to sustain their characters' popularities. Unfortunately this is something Lucas has been unable to do with Indiana Jones. If only they had come out with an animated series!