After experiencing a box office setback with The Lone Ranger, Johnny Depp is returning to his hugely successful role as the Mad Hatter in Disney’s sequel to Tim Burton’s adaptation of Alice in Wonderland that grossed over a billion dollars for the studio in 2010.  Depp has also agreed to reprise his role as Captain Jack Sparrow in a fifth Pirates of the Caribbean movie.  Of course with those blockbuster paying the bills Depp will also continue to act in smaller films that give him a chance to stretch his increasingly stylized acting style.  He recently decided to star as Charlie Mortdecai in a film based on Kyril Bonfiglioli’s 1970s mystery novels about an eccentric English art dealer.
 
According to Deadline, no dates have been set yet for the start of Alice in Wonderland 2, though it is clear that Depp’s frequent collaborator Tim Burton, who directed the first Alice film, which incorporated bits of Lewis Carroll’s Alice sequel Through the Looking Glass, will not return.  James Bobin, who directed the successful reboot of Disney’s Muppets franchise, will helm the Alice sequel.