Variety reports that Disney is considering Rob Marshall (Chicago, Memoirs of a Geisha) to direct the fourth installment of its Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. If successful, the move would easily put the film on track for a 2010 start with Johnny Depp reprising his role as Captain Jack Sparrow.

While Marshall’s involvement has yet to be confirmed, the studio is reportedly moving forward in the casting process, searching for talent to embody new characters that will appear in the picture. Gore Verbinski, who helmed the first three films in the series, stepped away from the fourth film to focus on a movie version of the vidgame BioShock for Universal. With the film’s future is currently on hold, Verbinski has moved on to other directing and producing projects.

Producer Jerry Bruckheimer and Disney have been meeting with a several directors in recent weeks, since the studio would like Depp to star in it before he begins work on The Lone Ranger.  Regardless of who Disney taps for the next film, it will be certainly be big business for Disney, whose first three Pirates flicks grossed $2.6 billion worldwide.

Legendary producer Jerry Bruckheimer has been quite a busy man, particularly of late. He’s been the driving force behind the Pirates of the Caribbean and National Treasure franchises, both of which have been the flagship action and adventure films of the past few years.

He’s also been working on the Nic Cage vehicle The Sorcerer’s Apprentice and an adaption of the video game Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time starring Jake Gyllenhaal. He’s also got a few rather popular shows on tv at the moment that you might have heard of.

Recently, ComingSoon caught up with Bruckheimer  to talk about the future of the Pirates franchise and how that future could affect The Lone Ranger. According to the site:

“Bruckheimer told us that for Disney, the priority is most definitely “Pirates.” “It’s a great franchise for them and for us, too,” he said. “A beloved character and Johnny’s really excited about coming back to Captain Jack. He certainly is interested in Tonto, but Disney’s priority is to get ‘Pirates’ made first. You never know what’s going to happen, but they would like it.”

Bruckheimer also shared that the original writers, Terry Rossio and Ted Elliot, were “writing ‘Pirates’ as we speak,” and he said it was “funny” and a “whole new way of going” although he wouldn’t share more than that.

When asked if Gore Verbinski will return to the director’s chair for the fourth Pirate’s film, Bruckheimer said that he’d “love for him to return, given his history with the franchise, but the ball is 100% in Verbinsnki’s court.”

Lone Ranger currently has a tentative release date sometime in 2012.