Collider reports that Johnny Depp will be filling the role of vampire Barnabas Collins in an upcoming big-screen adaptation of 1960s spooky soap opera Dark Shadows, to be directed by Tim Burton.

This marks just the latest in a long and ongoing series of collaborations between the 45-year-old actor and the 50-year-old director.  The Depp and Burton feature-film juggernaut started with 1990's Edward Scissorhands and runs right through the upcoming Alice in Wonderland remake.

Burton's Alice, expected to arrive in 2010, will be a mix of live and computer-generated action in which Depp portrays the Mad Hatter.

Collider cites producer Richard D. Zanuck, who's produced several of the Burton/Depp collaborations (including Alice), as saying that the Dark Shadows flick will be Burton's next project.  Filming is to begin in the summer of 2009 in London.

Hopefully, as a movie, Dark Shadows won't totally suck. Or, given the subject matter, perhaps it should.