Reports are coming in that Disney has over-extended itself and due to a ballooning budget (close to $300M) on John Carter and a $200M budget on Sam Raimi’s The Great and Powerful Oz, plus many other projects underway, the studio has canceled The Lone Ranger. At this point it may still happen, according to Deadline – “The studio and filmmakers are trying to figure out the next step, which would either be to shop it elsewhere or put it back together at a later date at a lower budget.”
As it stands the film was still slated to come out December 21, 2012 amongst other big releases The Hobbit and World War Z. Disney wanted to get the $250M budget down to $200M, but the filmmakers were only able to reach the $230M mark.
In my opinion this has to be a cash thing and not a gamble thing. John Carter would be a huge gamble (Friday Night Lights lead Taylor Kitsch is still unproven), but The Lone Ranger with the Pirates of the Caribbean dream team of director Gore Verbinski, actor Johnny Depp (as the sidekick Tonto) and producer Jerry Bruckheimer seems like a far more stable choice. With Carter and Oz already far into production and Ranger only in pre-production it was the easiest to stop for the moment. Of course with money spent and Johnny Depp’s pay or play contract (he’s collecting cash either way) this has a possibility of becoming the next big production with budget-baggage (like Superman Returns).
Some are speculating that after the failure of Cowboys & Aliens that perhaps Disney is worried about making a western. I doubt that, considering Cowboys & Aliens failed as a whole, the science fiction and western mixture. Disney does owe Depp (especially after Alice in Wonderland), and if Universal can give Vin Diesel a Riddick 3 then Disney can give Depp The Lone Ranger. That is if he wants to work for his money. Were you waiting for this release? Still think it has a shot at getting made?
Cowboys and Aliens (I haven’t seen it yet, just heard about it) seems to have gone in the wrong direction. The story was not, evidently, strong.
I have always liked westerns, but few recent releases have been worth noting. Any picture at $250 million would be a gamble; a western would be a farce. I would love to see the script for Ranger and be in on the board meeting that originally concluded: “Yes, let’s make this film. The world wants another Ishtar.”
With an estimated 250 million budget this film would have to gross 3x that figure to become profitable. This has become increasingly important in this era of collapsing DVD sales and 3D fatigue. The Range would have to lasso almost a billion worldwide and western themed pictures rarely play well outside the US. Look at the unfortunate domestic/international box-office numbers for Cowboys and Aliens.
I was and am a big fan of the original Lone Ranger TV series with Clayton Moore as the “masked man.” However, the Legend of the Lone Ranger” 1981 was terrible. A television pilot “The Lone Ranger” 2003 was not much better. If a good movie can be made I am all for it. However, given the story-line of the Lone Ranger, I question whether it can be updated for today’s audiences. I hope I am wrong, but I am skeptical.