Well, as I and other posters and SG warned at the outset when the film was first announced:
...we definitely need to note that this project is still in development. ... And it's going to be a much slower process than the WB pilot, which went from announcement to completion of shooting in less than six months. The process here is likely to be a loooong one - especially when, as Variety reports, Depp already has other projects in the pipeline...
And, of course, the writers' strike didn't help one bit. But I'm not really surprised that news about the film is coming out is small bits and pieces because that tends to be the way things work with most films. Items trickle out until the studio and/or producers decide, usually based on their marketing strategy, that the time is right to release info. Studios and producers tend to really hate premature news leaks because they want the publicity surrounding a film to remain fresh in the potential audience's mind and to build with each announcement so that that audience is really anticipating the release of a film. Is it frustrating to have to wait until they ultimately decide the time is right? It sure is! But we really have no alternative but to be patient. Someone
will feed us another morsel or two sooner or later.