Gore Verbinski and Johnny Depp are teaming up again in a Paramount animated feature film called Rango, written by Oscar-nominated screenwriter John Logan (Gladiator, The Aviator, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street). Depp will voice the title character with the release is set for March 2011.

Rango is Verbinski's first animated feature. He directed the Pirates of the Caribbean blockbusters, which grossed nearly $2.7 billion worldwide. Depp starred in all three movies as the swashbuckling Jack Sparrow, and earned an Oscar nomination for the first film. Verbinski is already experienced in CG animation and will be employing techniques he developed with ILM in the creation of the Davy Jones character in the Pirates movies, which won the 2006 Oscar for Best Visual Effects.

"Rango is an oddly charismatic character that is perfectly suited for Johnny Depp's extraordinary abilities," Verbinski said. "The techniques we are employing will allow us to capture and translate every aspect of Johnny's performance, using it to drive the computer-generated character in a way that has yet to be seen in an animated feature. This is not a disembodied voice: Johnny Depp is Rango. We are creating something that will resonate with a broad audience and stick in the minds of kids all across the globe."