Ahhh, if any of you know anything about the films on Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski’s plate you may have assumed that headline to mean Johnny Depp would be re-teaming with his Pirates helmer for Bioshock based on the best-selling Take-Two videogame. Sorry, that’s not it…

Instead Verbinski and Depp will teaming on Paramount’s CG animated effort Rango, which is set for a March 2011 release.

The script was penned by Aviator scripter John Logan. Depp will voice the title character, a household pet that goes on an adventure to discover its true self.

Surprisingly, Variety says Rango will be Paramount’s most ambitious star-driven entry into animation, which makes me wonder where Beowulf fits into the scheme of things.

Like Beowulf, Rango will be a motion-capture film and Verbinski was quoted saying the film will use cutting-edge animation techniques that “will allow us to capture and translate every aspect of Johnny’s performance, using it to drive the computer-generated character in a way that has yet to be seen in an animated feature.”

Depp’s work on the film begins in January.