Speculation continues as to whether Disney will or won’t bankroll a $200m Lone Ranger from producer Jerry Bruckheimer, director Gore Verbinski and star Johnny Depp. The studio canned the film just over a week ago thanks to budgetary concerns (it was running north of $250m) but various sources within Disney have indicated the project remains a possibility. Johnny Depp, after all, has been part of some of the studio’s biggest movies in the past decade — the Pirates of the Caribbean series and Alice in Wonderland — and is seen as one of the last bankable movie stars. (Tell that to the producers of The Rum Diary and The Tourist.)
The latest word on Lone Ranger comes from Disney executive Rich Ross, who said during the studio’s D23 Expo this weekend that he still very much wants to make the film. But he evidently omitted Gore Verbinski’s name when talking about the project, leading to even more rampant speculation that the studio wants to make a cheaper version of the movie with a different director. Read More »
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At the end of last week the biggest news might have been that Disney had canceled development of Gore Verbinski‘s Lone Ranger, which was set to star Johnny Depp as Tonto and Armie Hammer as the title character. At issue was the budget. The film, based on a script full of visualizations of Native American mysticism and werewolves, and featuring a few big action sequences, was going to cost about $250 million to make.
What? $250m for a western! The Coens spent barely $40m on True Grit. Another $210m? Even with Johnny Depp, that’s a lot of digital werewolves. Verbinski and producer Jerry Bruckheimer aren’t ready to let the movie go just yet, however. Quite a few script changes and fee cuts are under way now. The werewolves have been given the boot (thankfully!) and it looks like some other big alterations are taking place in order to get the cost down to a far more reasonable $220m or less. Read More »
Sometimes even Johnny Depp is too expensive. Deadline is reporting that Disney has pulled the plug on The Lone Ranger, the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced, Gore Verbinski-directed action western based on the classic TV show that was scheduled for release next Christmas. According to reports, the proposed budget came in north of $240 million and even when it was cut back, was still more than $230 million. With expensive films like John Carter and Oz The Great and Powerful already at various stages of production, and The Lone Ranger not yet shooting, Disney cancelled the film to save some bucks. There’s more after the jump. Read More »
Posted on Thursday, June 23rd, 2011 by Angie Han
We’ve already discussed at this space the ways in which Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer seem like excellent choices to play the Lone Ranger and Tonto, respectively, in the new The Lone Ranger film. Now another actor may be joining the mix as well. Tom Wilkinson is reportedly “in early talks” for a major part in the Disney Western, which is being directed by Gore Verbinski and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. Read more after the jump.
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Next Christmas, get your “Hi-yoo Silver!” on as Disney has now set a holiday release date for The Lone Ranger. Directed by Gore Verbinski, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and starring Armie Hammer as the title character and Johnny Depp as Tonto, the film is scheduled to hit the big screen on December 21, 2012. Read more after the break. Read More »
If you take the plunge and watch Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides this weekend, you might leave the theater wondering how the hell that movie was greenlit. Sometimes it all starts with a pitch meeting, and the video below is a recreation of how pitching ideas to Jerry Bruckheimer might really work. It will put Pirates 4 into perspective. Read More »
UPDATE: A rep for Ryan Gosling told Entertainment Weekly that he would not be appearing in this film. Original story follows.
Though it’s still a ways off, we know that, eventually, Gore Verbinski will direct a Jerry Bruckheimer-produced, Disney version of The Lone Ranger starring Johnny Depp as Tonto. But you can’t have Tonto without the title character himself and now The Wrap has learned that Ryan Gosling is in preliminary talks to scream “Hi-yo Silver!” Read more after the break. Read More »
Posted on Wednesday, March 30th, 2011 by Angie Han
Those of you who get cranky every time you remember Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides exists may want to avert your eyes, because the next sentence will only upset you further. We already knew that Disney was planning for the fifth and sixth installments of the series, and producer Jerry Bruckheimer has announced that the screenplay is already in progress. Read more after the jump.
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