Boy, would I have loved to be in the room when the Pirates of the Caribbean film was first pitched.

“I think it’s high time we did another movie based on one of our theme park attractions. I mean, The Haunted Mansion with Eddie Murphy did so well.”

In spite of the odds, Pirates of the Caribbean was a huge hit and the franchise has made more than $2.7 billion worldwide. So it probably shouldn’t come as a surprise that Walt Disney is coming back for more, announcing a Pirates sequel for May 2011.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides will feature Johnny Depp returning as Captain Jack Sparrow, with Astrid Bergs-Frisbey signing on as Syrena, a beautiful young mermaid.

Tim Burton and Alice in Wonderland is a winning combination, that much is clear without even seeing the movie. Burton is a master of surreal and otherworldly endeavors, and a movie inspired by Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass is the perfect opportunity to create another masterpiece. And it only gets better when you factor in a winning cast that includes stars like Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway, Stephen Fry, Alan Rickman and Crispin Glover.

Alice in Wonderland begins with a young Alice coming to her father, as he’s meeting with some potential business partners. He asks her if she’s had the nightmare again, and he excuses himself to escort her back to bed. She confides to him that it was the same one again, with the blue caterpillar, disappearing cat and strange world. She asks if she’s going mad, and he checks for her a moment, admits that yes, she’s bonkers, but that all the best people are…