Bloom and Knightley set to make a fortune in sequels

British stars Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom are in the middle of secret negotiations to spend 10 months of next year shooting two sequels to Pirates of the Carribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl back- to-back.

Hollywood producer Jerry Bruckheimer has decided to shoot the third Pirates movie at the same time as the sequel to last year's hit.

The British pair are looking at a fee of $12.6m (€10.5m) each for both films, while co-star Johnny Depp is able to command the highest price, as his performance as pirate Jack Sparrow made the original a phenomenal success - taking $720m (€598.5m) worldwide in 2003.

The source says: "They can name a high price as their love story was a very popular feature of the original and both have huge fan bases. The decision to make both movies at the same time will take them off the market for a year."