'Kon-Tiki' Directors Land 'Pirates of the Caribbean 5' Gig

Disney has a July 10, 2015, release for the movie.

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Joachim Ronning and Espen Sandberg

Joachim Ronning and Espen Sandberg may have stepped off Legendary’s Spectral, but the duo is hardly adrift.

The acclaimed directors of last year’s adventure movie Kon-Tiki have nabbed the high-profile assignment of directing the fifth installment of Disney’s multibillion-dollar Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, starring Johnny Depp.

Earlier this year the studio set a July 10, 2015, release for the movie.
The duo, repped by UTA and Brillstein Entertainment Partners, beat out directors such as Fredrik Bond, who impressed producer Jerry Bruckheimer with his Sundance movie The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman, and Snow White and the Huntsman’s Rupert Sanders.
Kon-Tiki, which was nominated for a best foreign film Oscar, dramatized Thor Heyerdal’s infamous 1947 Pacific crossing on a raft. The project showed the duo could handle the rigors of a water shoot, something that has dry-docked more-experienced directors.