Looks like the Armie Hammer/Johnny Depp Lone Ranger movie got shut down this past week because of production cost. It isn’t that Disney’s pockets aren’t deep enough, according to Deadline, it appears that the studios are tired of spending upwards of $300 million plus for every movie, and The Lone Ranger’s estimated $275 million budget may just be the straw that broke the camel’s back.
If production costs really are a thing studios are having a gripe over, expect to see other movies suddenly finding their budgets cut in order to meet studio expectations.
8 Comments
I wonder if the less than spectacular showing of GREEN HORNET affected this decision. From what I’ve read, this movie was going with the same basic premise: that the Ranger is a fool and Tonto is the brains of the operation. I have nothing against Tonto as a partner rather than a sidekick, but they can do that without tarnished the original hero.
Why would they need such a huge budget for a movie that should require minimal CGI?
More than likely it is the cost of the cast.
This never struck me as a good idea for a movie. There has already been a $#!+ load of Lone Ranger radio shows, TV shows and movies, admittedly they aired before most of you were even born, but still, did we really NEED yet another Lone Ranger movie? The attempt to revive the franchise about 20 years ago with a new movie was stillborn after one dismal flick that attempted to turn the Lone Ranger into a Wild Wild West clone. I think pulling the plug on the movie was a good thing. Like the Green Hornet, there was just no way this was going to end up being something decent. Admittedly, Disney’s reboot of the Zorro franchise ended up producing a pair of good movies, but that was it. Like I said in an earlier post, the way movie studios end up retreading old properties instead of coming up with new ideas has gone too far and I fully expect to see something like “Jeopady – the Movie” or “Test Pattern – in 3D” showing up in the theaters any day now.
I am SO upset about this! Ok, actually I’m laughing my butt off because it was a stupid premise and crappy casting anyway. Just because Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law can bring new life and a new view to Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson not every hack with a laptop can bang out a “new” movie for every fictional hero out there. The other thing is that successful movies based on fictional heroes or comics have hit at a time when the subject matter of the movie or the heroic concept of the movie were “right” for things that were going on in the US (the primary audience). Right now the lure of the old west where honor, justice, hard work and “clean livin'” were touted as heroic qualities probably wouldn’t sell as well as Captain America or Iron Man. Plus Johnny Depp as Tonto just makes me want to pee on the DVD anyway and I’m a fan of a lot of Depp’s movies (My daughter and I watch “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” every year around Halloween).
$275 million for a western is just stupid. I like westerns, but I certainly don’t want Depp in a Lone Ranger movie as Tonto attempting to be the star. Tonto shouldn’t get more than 25% of the screen time. Get a bunch of good actors that no one has heard of and bring the movie in under $50 million. Let “Lone Ranger” be the draw, not a bunch of overpaid spoiled actors whom Hollywood thinks will guarantee a large audience.
Agree 1000%
The Legend of the Lone Ranger DVD runs about $13 on a popular e-store. It’s not a bad adaptation by any means. One interesting tidbit: the PG rating predates the existence of the PG-13 rating…and it is one of those films I saw in the theater and was a little surprised at the non-R rating (because of the bloodshed).