Ugh. Tim Burton, Sam Raimi, Chris Weitz possible choices to direct Pirates of the Caribbean 5

Even though the response to Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides has been lukewarm here in the States, the fact remains that it's grossed somewhere north of $600M worldwide. Nobody's exactly clamoring for a fifth film in the vaunted Jack Sparrow franchise, but with those numbers Disney couldn't care less. And besides, they already commissioned the script for the next flick months ago, to be written by series vet, Terry Rossio.

That only left a couple of clear questions: Would Johnny Depp be back? The actor has said he'd return only if the story was right, but to be honest that hasn't stopped him before. The next question is: Would Rob Marshall be back to direct? It had been speculated that Disney wanted Marshall to return, but a recent rumor pushed by Cinemablend seems to indicate otherwise. They state that a number of potential replacements are already being looked at: Tim Burton, Sam Raimi, Alonso Cuaron, Chris Weitz, and Shawn Levy are all on the list.  Three of those names are big, bold picks. Two sorta suck.

Burton obviously has his long history of working with Depp, and he recently just reaped tons of cash for Disney with Alice in Wonderland. But Burton has a million other things going on right now, and jumping into the tail end of an already established franchise doesn't seem like his style. Sam Raimi would be a nice pick, but with Oz the Great and Powerful next up on his list it's doubtful he'd want another tentpole film either. Cuaron directed the first truly great Harry Potter film in The Prisoner of Azkaban, and of course helmed the awesome Children of Men a few years ago. He'd be my top choice if I had my way, as he has a unique visual style that might freshen the boring Pirates look a little bit. His participation is also doubtful, as he's got his big sci-fi epic, Gravity, to deal with right now.

That leaves Shawn Levy and Chris Weitz. Neither are very inspired choices. On his own, Weitz has given us both The Golden Compass and The Twilight Saga: New Moon. Levy has so many terrible movies to his credit it's a wonder he's still around, but I must admit his latest, the robot boxing drama Real Steel, looks fantastic. These two seem like the most likely choices to win the job if Marshall doesn't return.