Johnny Depp 'Alice in Wonderland 2'; Actor In Talks with 'Muppets' Director James Bobin for Sequel
James Bobin is apparently in early talks to direct Alice in Wonderland 2 for Disney, and Johnny Depp would return to star as the Mad Hatter, reported MSN.
Bobin already oversees The Muppets franchise for Disney and directed the first Muppets film, which was a big hit in 2011. He is currently finishing filming the second one, The Muppets...Again!, which will open in theaters in 2014.
Sources said the talks regarding Alice in Wonderland 2 were in the early stages and that Bobin had not yet met with the producers, and a meeting with Depp would come first.
Bobin, who also worked in TV as a writer and creator on Flight of the Conchords and Da Ali G Show, reportedly has no firm commitment to a film after The Muppets sequel.
With Alice, director Tim Burton, Depp and producer Roth reimagined Lewis Carroll's famous tale in a 3D 2010 film. Their take on the story of a girl who gets sucked into a fantasy world grossed more than $1 billion worldwide.The success of Alice consequently inspired a rush of the production of classic kids' tales as films, including two new Snow White movies, a Hansel and Gretel film and Jack the Giant Slayer.
Linda Woolverton, who wrote the screenplay for the first Alice, has been working on a script for the second.
Burton will not return to work on Alice, and Depp has not yet officially signed on.
Depp is already in contract to reprise his role as Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean 5, another Disney franchise.
The actor also just dropped out of Black Mass, a biopic of famed Boston mobster Whitey Bulger, directed by Barry Levinson.
Depp is currently filming Transcendence, directed by Wally Pfister and stars at Tonto in The Lone Ranger, scheduled to open in theaters in North America on July 3.
