For those looking forward to The Lone Ranger remake or at least one more Johnny Depp film will be disappointed on both counts. The Disney backed Lone Ranger film, about a masked Texas Ranger travelling the American Old West with his Native American sidekick to fight injustice, will not be moving forward thus depriving audiences of a possible new franchise and of Johnny Depp as sidekick Tanto and one of the moment’s more popular names, Armie Hammer (The Social Network) in the title role.
Sources including E! News claim that a large part of the decision was due to budget concerns and that director Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Caribbean) was “unwilling to compromise his vision for the film” with a reduction in budget. This is quite disappointing to hear as such a legacy and wealth of material that have silver screen roots dating back to the 1940s (the 30s even, if you count radio broadcasts of The Lone Ranger) seems to be postponed indefinitely. I guess we will have to wait until Hollywood has run out of things to remake and maybe they’ll circle back in desperation to allow a new generation to discover The Lone Ranger.