MUMBAI: Johnny Depp‘s reps are in publicity overdrive following a week of bruising bad press when The Lone Ranger bombed and his star status was questioned. The purpose clearly is to exhibit that Johnny is very much in demand.

And he should be despite the public rejecting both his Tonto and Barnabas Collins roles recently. Earlier in the week, Depp was tipped in negotiations for the lead in Lionsgate‘s Mortdecai, an adaptation of the 1970s mystery novels.

And now fresh news comes that Depp has a ‘new‘ multi-year first look deal at Disney to develop film projects he can produce there. But news is that it was set and signed back with Disney in March, not recently, and just never announced. What is new is that Depp is in final discussions at Disney for the much anticipated Alice In Wonderland sequel with James Bobin (of the recent Muppets reboots) subbing for Tim Burton as director.

Johnny‘s turn as the Mad Hatter in that 3D modern classic, of course, made over a billion bucks in worldwide gross for the studio in 2010. Old news is that Depp will reprise Capt Jack Sparrow in Disney‘s Pirates Of The Caribbean 5 dated for Summer 2015 and directed by Kon-Tikifilmmakers Joachim Ronning and Espen Sandberg.