Last week, Johnny Depp made an appearance at CinemaCon in Las Vegas, to promote his turn as Scrooge in Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol.

The Daily Express was in attendance, as we were, for a panel discussion without him featuring Pirates of the Caribbean 6 producer Jerry Bruckheimer.

It’s been a decade since the Jack Sparrow star filmed the last swashbuckling outing. Since then, he’s slowly but surely been making his return to Hollywood blockbusters after winning his libel case against his ex-wife Amber Heard.

During the interview, The Town’s Matt Belloni asked Bruckheimer if the process for getting movies green-lit in 2026 is much slower than 10, 20 years ago, to which the youthful 82-year-old producer replied, “At certain place yes.” And then Pirates came up.

The host asked: “Why is there no Pirates movie happening? I’ve talked about this for a decade.” Bruckheimer humbly replied: “That’s us, not on them. We went through three different managements with three different versions of what they thought a Pirate movie was. So, I think now there’s a management that is settled in and working very closely at getting it done.” Belloni said: “There was a Margot Robbie version [in development], there’s a bringing back Johnny [one]. So you’re confident that will be green-lit soon?” The producer teased: “We’ve got to give them a script, it’s on us.”

A couple of months ago, Bruckheimer confirmed to Entertainment Tonight that he’d had conversations with Robbie. And when asked if it was more her spin-off than a rumoured Jack Sparrow son adventure in the works, he replied cryptically: “I think you’re going up the right road.” As it stands we’re none the wiser on if Depp’s Sparrow would co-star, cameo, let alone feature at all in Pirates of the Caribbean 6. But what will concern fans is that it may all now be put back on the backburner as Bruckheimer’s other baby Top Gun 3 has been officially green-lit. At the very least the script is being written, so hopefully Pirates 6 will be his main focus afterwards.

Michael, the official Michael Jackson biopic, hits cinemas today and has been slammed by many critics (there are several 1-star reviews) for whitewashing the late King of Pop’s legacy and not addressing the multiple child abuse allegations he faced in life.

Yet the film also concludes in 1988 at the height of his fame, with the on-screen promise that his “story continues” following months of rumours that there’s at least one sequel, maybe even a trilogy of movies.

Appearing on NBC’s Today, Joseph Jackson star Colman Domingo was asked what he would say to folks who say they whitewashed the allegations of sexual abuse against the late star in the upcoming Michael film.

The Oscar-nominee replied: “The film takes place from the ‘60s to 1988, so it does not go into the first allegations, in what, 2005?’” Domingo misdates here.

It was actually 1993 first, where there was a multi-million out of court settlement, followed by another accusation in 2003 that led to a 2005 trial that included a third testimony, but the star was acquitted of all charges. This was followed posthumously in 2019 by two more independent accusations in the HBO documentary Leaving Neverland. All five who accused Jackson of sexual abuse shared beds with him when they were children.

Domingo continued: “So basically we centre [the new film] on the makings of Michael. It’s an intimate portrait of who Michael is through his eyes. There’s a possibility of there being a Part 2 that may deal with some other times that happened afterwards. But this [film] is about the making of Michael, how he was raised and then how he tried to find his voice as an artist and be a solo artist.”

The host asked, “Sounds like there will be a sequel?”, to which Domingo replied, “There could be a sequel. We don’t know yet.”

Michael is expected to have a record-breaking opening of $70 million domestically, topping Bohemian Rhapsody and Straight Outta Compton, suggesting Lionsgate could be looking at a $1 billion blockbuster.

Considering this, it seems incredibly likely that a sequel will be green-lit as an obvious cash-in for the estate. Michael 2 is rumoured to address the allegations and also cover his final two studio albums Dangerous (1991) and Invincible (2001).

Michael is out now in cinemas.

Sir Ringo Starr appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live earlier this week as The Beatles drummer, promoting his new album Long Long Road, which is out on Friday.

The 85-year-old legend opened up about the Fab Four’s early days, including touring the US.

Although John, Paul, George and Ringo soon got fed up with live performing and quit touring forever in 1966.

Nevertheless, The Beatles kept up one tradition in private right up to that point.

Kimmel brought up how The Beatles were roommates during touring and Ringo replied: “Well, we were always four of us in two rooms. So, I was roommates with everybody. Y’know, Paul was roommates with everybody. Depended where they put the suitcases. We just went and shared a room.”

The host then asked if this changed once they became rich and famous.

Ringo replied: “No, right up to the last day of the last tour — or the last night of the last tour — we shared.” Kimmel then asked cheekily: “Wow. That’s really cool. When you visit each other at your homes now, do you get into bed together ever?” To which the drummer said: “No. No, not anymore.”

Asked if Paul was the man outside of his family he’s shared a bed with the most in life, Ringo replied: “Well, actually, I’d like to tell you I slept with the three of them.”