The Kon-Tiki directing team of Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg will take the helm for Pirates of the Caribbean 5! Deadline Hollywood reports that Disney, Johnny Depp (who will return as Captain Jack Sparrow) and producer Jerry Bruckheimer “have all signed off on the choice, and negotiations are underway on a deal that will make quickly. The duo will come aboard to prep the massive movie for a late year or early January start.”

Rønning and Sandberg have a proven track record for dealing with the complications that ensue when a film shoots on water; their Kon-Tiki, a recreation of Thor Heyerdal’s epic 4,300-mile crossing of the Pacific on a balsa wood raft in 1947, received an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Film. Also, as Deadline’s Mike Fleming notes, “They made a lot of movie with a little money.” That ability to combine fiscal prudence with critical and popular success will endear the directing duo to producers everywhere.

Pirates of the Caribbean 5, with a script by Jeff Nathanson, is scheduled for release on July 10, 2015.

The Zone thanks Lou Lou 63 for breaking the news; you can read more about Pirates of the Caribbean 5 on the Zone’s News & Views forum.
The Deadline Hollywood article is available HERE.