This is a rumor that started round yesterday with the National Enquirer and now has worked its way up the tabloid circuit to MTV UK…

MTV UK, in all its trashiness, reports:

Zac Efron will star in Pirates Of The Caribbean 4 and, according to reports, will bag £6 Million for the role.
Efron is one of Disney’s biggest stars through the High School Musical films and now it seems they want to keep him on.
The deal also secures the 21 year old for High School Musical 4- which he’d previously been reluctant to commit to.
Zac will now star alongside Keira Knightley and Johnny Depp in the next Pirates movie- which is likely to hit cinemas in 2010.

The only thing that makes this report anywhere near true is that Disney would love to lock Zac Efron into their family by giving him a more adult franchise. High School Musical made them boat loads of money (and there will probably be a 4, though we don’t expect Efron to be in it). Their original HSM stars, however, have started to grow out of the Mouse House.

How do you let Zac Efron grow as an asset without giving up any of your sweet Efron money? Stick him in your rock solid franchise, Pirates of the Caribbean. Swashbucklers they may be, but the Pirates films play in the big leagues in comparison to HSM minors.

Otherwise, everything else about this rumor stinks. We’ve heard rumors that place Efron’s total take between $10 and $12 million, and we’ve heard different versions of this rumor an how it relates to another High School Musical.

Right now, this rumor can only be followed down the windy road of tabloids, which means take this all with a salt lick. No higher-ups or official sources have let this info leak, so until then, we can still hope that Disney knows what it’s doing.