Gore Verbinski To Ditch Pirates, Robert Zemeckis To Send Moms To Mars

Jim Hill is good to his word. As promised last week, he's been at Berkeley Breathed booksigning events, and hoovering up scoops.

For one: Gore Verbinski is looking to ditch Pirates - even though Johnny Depp is close to signing for a fourth installment. Why would Berkeley Breathed know? Because Verbinski's preferred project is an adaptation of his Flawed Dogs children's book.

Breathed's latest is Mars Needs Moms, acclaimed by many to be his best work to date. The great news is that this looks set to be adapted into the first film for the Disney-Robert Zemeckis collaboration, the motion-capture studio announced earlier in the year.

Despite obvious conclusions, I'm not sure Zemeckis will direct, but it is entirely possible. Either way, it should make for a good first project, something to show the world what the new unit is capable of.