Whoa, well, that is (tentatively) great news, that there is even a (tentative) plan in place. I'll keep my fingers crossed!
In other Depp news, Shantaram has just been taken off IMDb, other than a placeholder and a note that there is more information if you join IMDbPro (which has a subscription cost). A fan who has IMDbPro says that the film is still there but is now in a state of "turnover". I think I mentioned that Johnny was recently taken off as a cast member, as well. I realize of course that IMDb is often inaccurate, but all this sudden shuffling seems like it might indicative of such "turnover", which may mean that Warner Bros. may sell the rights to the film to someone else. We have been hearing that Warner Bros. (as well as many other studios) have cut back on the number of films they're greenlighting right now, because of the financial situation, and of all the films in Johnny's pipeline, this was the one we thought would take the longest and be the most expensive (an epic film with lots of location shots, and having to shoot around monsoon season in India). If Shantaram's future is truly in doubt (or gone altogether) it could free up his future time considerably. We know that Johnny is doing Rango in January, but that is just his voice for an animated film, so it might be done very quickly. There are rumblings that The Rum Diary might be next (and at this point we're not sure if Johnny is still going to act in it or just produce) but nothing is confirmed beyond Rango. On Tim Burton's side, my understanding is that he's doing Frankenweenie after Alice In Wonderland, but since that will be animated, I wonder how much actual hands-on time he will need for it. He was able to do Charlie And The Chocolate Factory and Corpse Bride pretty much simultaneously.
Anyway, I think a timeframe of DS shooting in 2010 to be released in 2011 is reasonable, and I will certainly be hoping for this! What i hope for next is some word that a script has been completed, because I think that will be necessary before they can really solidify a timeframe.