Blog argues that POTC 4 is based on book Disney optioned

[Michael]

I have been so busy I haven't had time to track Pirates of the Caribbean news, but apparently people began speculating on the basis of the title that the fourth movie is based on a book. The citation below is from a blog that says that is indeed the case.

When Disney announced the title of the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean movie would be Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, many instantly speculated that it might be based on a same named pirate book written by author Tim Powers in the 80s. Today speaking with the LA Times Powers confirmed that, yep, it is.

Read the full post here.

Okay, I guess that rounds out the POTC franchise a little bit.

[Michael]

Actually, it turns out there was a little more information:

Screenwriter Terry Rosio also chimed in to say:

"We wanted to do a story about Blackbeard and the Fountain of Youth, and Tim Powers wrote a book about Blackbeard and the Fountain of Youth... it just turns out that to do that story you would need that book. It's a brilliant and Tim Powers is an amazing writer - and it's a great title. It allows us to draw material from that universe and his expertise. I don't know if its proper to say [the film is] based on [the book] but there are enough common elements to think that the book had to be optioned to us to reasonably proceed along that story line."

Read the full article here (different site from the one given in the message above).