Burton, Raimi, Levy and Cuarón in the running for Pirates 5?

Critical consensus surmises that, upon taking over from Gore Verbinski, director Rob Marshall gave Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides a bland handling.  Our own Simon Miraudo wasn’t exactly blown away, and Margaret Pomeranz commented that the franchise had reached its use by date.

So it makes sense that measured star Johnny Depp is not keen to rush into the fifth Pirates film, nor is Marshall (although he’ll work with Depp in a different capacity on detective remake The Thin Man).

Marshall’s been sitting on Disney’s offer to direct a fifth Pirates since January, which has given Disney plenty of time to toy with other potential director candidates.

Cinema Blend reports that atop Disney’s working list is Tim Burton (Disney has wanted him since the fourth film) followed by Spider-Man director Sam Raimi and Night At The Museum director Shawn Levy. Alfonso Cuarón is apparently another possibility, which is really exciting, given nearly all of Cuaron’s films are edgy and intelligent. He’d be sure to give the dying franchise the adrenalin shot it severely needs; but whether or not it would be an appropriate use of his talents is another matter.

Discuss: Who would you like to see direct Pirates 5? Or is the saga dead in the water?