The Depp Blue Sea

Every kid likes a good pirate yarn, but making one after notable disasters like 1995's ''Cutthroat Island'' and 2002's animated ''Treasure Planet'' is enough to drive a movie producer to walk the plank. Jerry Bruckheimer, the man behind Disney's live-action summer behemoth, dismisses such talk (even after a fire consumed $300,000 worth of sets during preproduction). ''I heard the same stuff when we were making ''Top Gun,'' '' he says of the effects-heavy ''Pirates of the Caribbean,'' which stars Johnny Depp and ''The Lord of the Rings''' Orlando Bloom. Disney hopes audiences won't mutiny at the box office, especially after the studio invested nearly $100 million on a movie inspired by a theme-park attraction. ''There's echoes of it,'' Bruckheimer says. ''You see little things that you'll remember from the ride.'' So can we expect a lot of corny ''yo-ho-ho'' songs and a peg-legged villain? Geoffrey Rush, who plays Depp's cursed nemesis, is mum on most details, though he will admit to ''the most un-Hollywood teeth you can imagine.'' In Hollywood, what could be scarier? (July 9)