Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides film provided him a long-awaited opportunity to work with Depp, and that his directing was helped by his experience as a choreographer—"the action sequences felt like big production numbers." On September 11, 2009, at Disney's D23 convention during a Disney event, Cook and Johnny Depp, in full Captain Jack Sparrow costume, announced that a fourth "Pirates" film was in development. The title was announced as "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides". Marshall visited the Pirates of the Caribbean ride in Disneyland for inspiration, eventually paying homage with a skeleton holding a magnifying glass in Ponce de León's ship. An
On Stranger Tides follow the plot of the novel. It was later revealed that while making the films, screenwriters Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio found Tim Powers' novel and brought it up to producer Jerry Bruckheimer as an idea to optioned the book for the new chapter. In a 2011 interview, Tim Powers stated that Disney wanted the film rights as early as before the release of the second "Pirates" film, "", though he thought they already used elements beforehand with skeletal pirates replacing zombies from his book. In January 2010, Disney announced that the film would be released on May 20, 2011.