If you are longing to be among the very first audience to see PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT WORLD’S END, and you have plenty of cash to donate to a very worthy cause, you’re in luck: Disneyland is selling premiere tickets to the public in hopes of raising more than $3 million for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Only twelve hundred tickets will be available, however, and the cost will be steep: $1,500 per ticket. You can order tickets at www.piratespremiere.com. The premiere will be Saturday, May 19th at Disneyland in Anaheim, California–you’ve heard of it; the happiest place on earth.

“Disney is dedicated to making dreams come true and we’re extremely proud to be lending our support to the Make-A-Wish Foundation with this benefit World Premiere of PIRATES to make a difference,” says Disney chairman Dick Cook. “The Studio is extremely excited about the upcoming release of PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT WORLD’S END, and we’re pulling out all the stops to give it the send-off it deserves with a magnificent gala event at Disneyland.” Disney has jump-started the fundraising with an initial donation of more than $1 million to Make-A-Wish, and in addition, the company will underwrite all the costs of the premiere, so 100% of the ticket sales will benefit Make-A-Wish.

The Make-A-Wish Foundation of America and Make-A-Wish International will share in the proceeds from the premiere; both organizations are dedicated to granting the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions. Fifty Make-A-Wish kids and their families will be Disney guests at the premiere, welcomed to the events at no charge. Says Cook, “Disney has been a longtime supporter of this wonderful organization and we’re excited to be doing something special to bring smiles to the children and their families, giving them magical moments to share.” Johnny Depp is also a longtime supporter of Make-A-Wish; he has been actively involved with the organization since his days on 21 JUMP STREET.

While the two previous PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN premieres have been spectacular, the AWE premiere promises to outshine them: “This year, we get to do a huge amount of good for a lot of kids,” says Lylle Breier, Disney’s senior VP of special events, who promises that AWE will be “the most exciting red carpet ever.” Thanks to Theresa for sharing the news; you can read all the details on the Zone’s News & Views forum. –Part-Time Poet