The Lone Ranger has had a troubled time trying to enter production. The gist of what happened is that the movie is set to star Armie Hammer as the Ranger and Johnny Depp as Tonto. Great, no? Well, problems began when Disney asked those involved to lower the budget from an estimated 300 million and something about a story involving werewolves. Yeah. The outcome was that nothing was agreed upon and production was cancelled right before they were about to start. A lot of us watching speculated that the move would spell the end for the film but it seems that an agreement has been reached between both parties.
Source: Forces of Geek
Disney, director Gore Verbinski (PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN, RANGO), star Johnny Depp, and producer Jerry Bruckheimer are expected to announce a new start date very soon. Most likely though, the initial December 21, 2012 release date will have to be scrapped as the film is not expected to shoot in New Mexico until early next year.
The film was originally planned to shoot this fall, but Disney canceled the project, that was then estimated to cost $250-$275, following the flop of Universal’s western COWBOYS AND ALIENS.
It’s clear that Bruckheimer and the gang want to re-invent the Lone Ranger and add some mythology to the character to help give him appeal to younger audiences. I understand that. How on earth this western generates a budget that massive is unbelievable. It’s a tough sell for Disney considering the whole Cowboys and Aliens box office results and that’s understandable as it’s a massive amount of money to invest in these guys. I have a hard time imagining what they have in mind with this movie but I’m glad that everyone has agreet upon a budget and will get the ball rolling on this one.
