LONE RANGER Thread - Tarantino Says "One of 2013's Top 10"

[AndyDursin]

Disney says the budget was too high...

I can't believe JOHN CARTER is necessitating "extensive reshoots" and has a price tag of $300 (!!!!) million...between that and COWBOYS AND ALIENS flaming out, maybe that had something to do with it.

http://www.deadline.com/2011/08/shocker ... ne-ranger/

EXCLUSIVE: In a stunning development, Disney has shut down production on The Lone Ranger, the Gore Verbinski-directed period Western that was to star Johnny Depp as Tonto and Armie Hammer as the title character. Jerry Bruckheimer is the producer and the script's by Justin Haythe. I'm told this all just happened, and Disney pulled the plug because the budget, which I've heard the filmmakers were trying to reduce from $250 million--I've heard from insider that they'd gotten down to $232 million, but whatever the number, it wasn't close to the $200 million that Disney wanted to spend. This had to be an incredibly tough call for Disney's Rich Ross and Sean Bailey, but they have several huge live action bets on the table already. John Carter, the Andrew Stanton-directed adaptation of John Carter of Mars with Friday Night Lights' Taylor Kitsch in the lead role, has a budget that has ballooned to north of $300 million because of extensive re-shoots [a studio insider said the number is lower], and The Great and Powerful Oz, the Sam Raimi-directed James Franco-starrer has a budget is hovering at $200 million. Lone Ranger wasn't starting production until October, and and even though money has been spent as the picture is in pre-production (Depp is pay or play), but it was the easiest one on which to apply the brakes. The shoot was set for New Mexico. Between Depp, Bruckheimer and Verbinski, the gross outlay on the film is substantial. The film was still casting up, with Ruth Wilson, the serial killer from the BBC's Luther series, set for the female lead.

This becomes the second major Western-themed project to bite the dust, after Universal halted a mammoth adaptation of Stephen King's The Dark Tower. Is it coincidence that The Lone Ranger halted right after another Western, Cowboys & Aliens, proved to be a pricey disappointment for DreamWorks and Universal?

The development is stunning because the principals have minted money when they've worked together for Disney. Bruckheimer is the long time cornerstone producer on the Disney lot and because Depp has starred in the studio's all time biggest films, including Alice in Wonderland and the four Bruckheimer-produced Pirates of the Caribbean films. Depp and Verbinski teamed for three Pirates installments, grossing billions of dollars for the studio. Verbinski most recently directed Rango, the Paramount film that is a front runner for Best Animated Film Oscar and which grossed $243 million worldwide. Disney has four of the 10 all-time top worldwide grossing films in Hollywood history, and three of them starred Depp. That includes Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, which Verbinski directed and which grossed $1.066 billion. The most recent Pirates installment also cracked the $1 billion mark this summer, and Disney's only other film on that All-Time Top 10 list is Toy Story 3.

Lone Ranger was scheduled to be released December 21, 2012, smack up against The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, which opens December 14, and the Brad Pitt-starrer World War Z, which was just slated for December 21. It's unclear whether that factored into the decision. 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. Calls to Disney were not returned. The Lone Ranger has a long history, but Disney counted on Depp to make it relevant. The series began on radio in 1933, became a TV series that ran from 1949-1957, and both were wildly popular as the masked Lone Ranger and Tonto fought crime in the Old West, with the Lone Ranger calling out Hi Yo, Silver! Away!, as his horse took off.

Halting the movie is shocking because of the participants involved, but it certainly is happening with more regularity in Hollywood lately. Universal recently halted production on a version of At the Mountains of Madness that Guillermo del Toro was going to direct with Tom Cruise starring, and it also halted an adaptation of King's The Dark Tower that Ron Howard, Brian Grazer and Akiva Goldsman were ready to do, in a trilogy of movies and two limited run TV series. And just this week, DreamWorks halted Southpaw, a boxing drama that has Eminem set to star in his first role since 2002's 8 Mile, with Antoine Fuqua directing. This happened after the failure of Cowboys & Aliens. While Southpaw's $30 million budget was small compared to those other cancellations (other suitors are circling for the picture), it's clear that studios are making their bets more shrewdly. Even if it means bruised feelings from stars, directors and producers accustomed to having it their way.

[Monterey Jack]

Why...in the name of GOD...does a movie like The Lone Ranger need to cost $250 million?! Thirteen years ago Martin Campbell made The Mask Of Zorro for about sixty million, and it was awesome. Aside from Depp's salary, why does this need to cost so much? It's a Western, horse rentals don't cost that much, do they?! And 300 million for John Carter? A character that has NO BRAND-NAME RECOGNITION outside of a small group of cult sci-fi fans?

Jesus...

[AndyDursin]

Sure makes you wonder. You're right, it's a WESTERN. Then again COWBOYS AND ALIENS cost a ton also.

Only thing I can figure is they have a lot of invested parties with big salaries like Depp, Verbinski, Bruckheimer, etc.

Still, why does it need to cost beyond $200 million? Just crazy. Unlike PIRATES, they're probably -- justifiably -- worried that internationally it won't bring in big foreign dollars.

[Monterey Jack]

That's one reason I really admired Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes...the whole thing cost a relatively thrifty $80 million and didn't skimp on the F/X/excitement in the slightest. And what about District 9, which cost only $30 million? Movies do NOT need to cost this much, this consistently. Unless it's James Cameron behind the camera (who at least puts his budgets up there on the screen), you should not be seeing three dozen $200+ million productions every single year. It doesn't seem that long ago when even expensive movies tended to top out around $40-$50 million and grossing $100 million in the U.S. was considered a rousing success. And, again...a WESTERN. All you need are horse and firearms! This isn't gonna be like Cowboys & Aliens where at least you had a lot of F/X...it's a cowboy in a domino mask riding around and punching people.

This is insanity. Disney did the right thing pulling the plug. I wish more studios would tighten their belts and just say no to these insane budgets. They'd spend less and make more (if the films were good enough...witness the critical and commercial success of Apes), and isn't that the ultimate ambition of any business? Making a hit movie is like building a better mousetrap, and cheese shouldn't cost you two-hundred fricking million dollars (not including prints and advertising, of course! ).

God, I make $250 dollars a week, and they're greenlighting movies at pricetags that could feed a third-world country for a DECADE.

[Monterey Jack]

"My new movie is me in front of a brick wall for ninety minutes. It cost eighty million dollars."

"How do you sleep at night?"

"On a pile of money, with many beautiful ladies."

[AndyDursin]

I think they to wise to shut down production, though I do think it's different than THE DARK TOWER, where Universal scoffed at the prospects of doing multiple movies, a TV show, and almost surely an R rating for basically a "horror movie" -- when no horror movies, unless it's THE EXORCIST, make anywhere near the money they were going to invest in it.

Here, you've got a big star, a big director, a PG rating -- and yet they still pulled the plug.

I still think it must have come down to them having overspent on JOHN CARTER and also looking at how badly COWBOYS AND ALIENS has done.

Perhaps this will get reactivated if they can cut the budget down to size...either way, it's now the second Gore Verbinski genre film that's gotten the plug pulled after BIOSHOCK was put into turnaround with him being set to direct it.

[AndyDursin]

Deadline revised their initial article and expanded it with more comments.

EXCLUSIVE: In a stunning development, Disney has shut down production on The Lone Ranger, the Gore Verbinski-directed period Western that was to star Johnny Depp as Tonto and Armie Hammer as the title character. Jerry Bruckheimer is the producer and the script's by Justin Haythe. I'm told this all just happened, and Disney pulled the plug because the budget, which I've heard the filmmakers were trying to reduce from $250 million--I've heard from insider that they'd gotten down to $232 million, but whatever the number, it wasn't close to the $200 million that Disney wanted to spend. This had to be an incredibly tough call for Disney's Rich Ross and Sean Bailey, but they have several huge live action bets on the table already. John Carter, the Andrew Stanton-directed adaptation of John Carter of Mars with Friday Night Lights' Taylor Kitsch in the lead role, has a budget that has ballooned to north of $300 million because of extensive re-shoots [a studio insider said the number is lower], and The Great and Powerful Oz, the Sam Raimi-directed James Franco-starrer has a budget is hovering at $200 million. Lone Ranger wasn't starting production until October, and and even though money has been spent as the picture is in pre-production (Depp is pay or play), but it was the easiest one on which to apply the brakes. The shoot was set for New Mexico. Between Depp, Bruckheimer and Verbinski, the gross outlay on the film is substantial. The film was still casting up, with Ruth Wilson, the serial killer from the BBC's Luther series, set for the female lead.

This becomes the second major Western-themed project to bite the dust, after Universal halted a mammoth adaptation of Stephen King's The Dark Tower. Is it coincidence that The Lone Ranger halted right after another Western, Cowboys & Aliens, proved to be a pricey disappointment for DreamWorks and Universal?

The development is stunning because the principals have minted money when they've worked together for Disney. Bruckheimer is the long time cornerstone producer on the Disney lot and because Depp has starred in the studio's all time biggest films, including Alice in Wonderland and the four Bruckheimer-produced Pirates of the Caribbean films. Depp and Verbinski teamed for three Pirates installments, grossing billions of dollars for the studio. Verbinski most recently directed Rango, the Paramount film that is a front runner for Best Animated Film Oscar and which grossed $243 million worldwide. Disney has four of the 10 all-time top worldwide grossing films in Hollywood history, and three of them starred Depp. That includes Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, which Verbinski directed and which grossed $1.066 billion. The most recent Pirates installment also cracked the $1 billion mark this summer, and Disney's only other film on that All-Time Top 10 list is Toy Story 3.

Lone Ranger was scheduled to be released December 21, 2012, smack up against The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, which opens December 14, and the Brad Pitt-starrer World War Z, which was just slated for December 21. It's unclear whether that factored into the decision. 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. Calls to Disney were not returned. The Lone Ranger has a long history, but Disney counted on Depp to make it relevant. The series began on radio in 1933, became a TV series that ran from 1949-1957, and both were wildly popular as the masked Lone Ranger and Tonto fought crime in the Old West, with the Lone Ranger calling out Hi Yo, Silver! Away!, as his horse took off.

Halting the movie is shocking because of the participants involved, but it certainly is happening with more regularity in Hollywood lately. Universal recently halted production on a version of At the Mountains of Madness that Guillermo del Toro was going to direct with Tom Cruise starring, and it also halted an adaptation of King's The Dark Tower that Ron Howard, Brian Grazer and Akiva Goldsman were ready to do, in a trilogy of movies and two limited run TV series. And just this week, DreamWorks halted Southpaw, a boxing drama that has Eminem set to star in his first role since 2002's 8 Mile, with Antoine Fuqua directing. This happened after the failure of Cowboys & Aliens. While Southpaw's $30 million budget was small compared to those other cancellations (other suitors are circling for the picture), it's clear that studios are making their bets more shrewdly, particularly with the economic uncertainty that has rocked the stock prices of parent companies of film studios. Even if it means bruised feelings from stars, directors and producers accustomed to having it their way.

Depp is in Europe at the moment, but really wanted to make the film. All parties are saying the outcome here is unclear what will happen. "There's always a chance it could still go," one insider said. "You never know until you know." But clearly, Disney would not have taken such a drastic stance unless is was determined to bring the cost down $40 million or so. Can it do that when they're shooting in the outdoors in winter, and keep that late 2012 release date? That would be more shocking than what happened today.

[AndyDursin]

Back on track with a reduced budget...

http://www.deadline.com/2011/10/disney- ... ease-slot/

[Monterey Jack]

Wow, they shaved...what, twenty million? And it's still over $200 million?

[AndyDursin]

Wow, they shaved...what, twenty million? And it's still over $200 million?

I think the issue is that Verbinski tends to go overboard in his productions, so even though the original announced budget was $250 million, they may have been worried it would end up over that mark. Now it's been knocked down to $215 mil and probably has some guarantees that the director is going to be held in check. (His BIOSHOCK movie got canned when the budget started spiraling out of control).

Can't say I blame Disney. JOHN CARTER cost $250 mil and is almost guaranteed to be a bomb (trailer looks awful, it has no cast, no title, nothing going for it) and COWBOYS AND ALIENS sucked and pulled in nothing internationally. Even with Depp starring westerns are a tough sell in most foreign markets. So it is a risk to be making the movie, though the rewards are high if they can make it work.

It's also probably a western the same way PIRATES was a seafaring pirate movie -- as in, likely has special effects (Ghost Riders of the Sky? lol) that'll push the budget up. Otherwise the only way I can assume a western is costing $200 mil is because of the cast/producers/director and also that they're going to be spending a lot on location shooting and the physical production.

[Monterey Jack]

If the Coens could make True Grit for $40 million, there's no excuse for this.

[AndyDursin]

If the Coens could make True Grit for $40 million, there's no excuse for this.

Like I said, action and special effects. This isn't going to be a low-key type of western -- with Bruckheimer, Verbinski and Depp...you wouldn't expect it to be.

[Eric W.]

No way in hell any western should be this expensive.

[Monterey Jack]

Like I said, action and special effects.

The Mask Of Zorro (another throwback to a long-dormant pulp hero) had action and special effects (sort of), and it cost only $60 million to make. I wish studios would learn movies don't HAVE to cost this damn much. Spend less, make more...isn't that the bottom line for any successful business? If you stripped away the outrageous salaries for Depp, Bruckheimer and Verbinski, you could probably shave a hundred damn million off the budget right there.

[AndyDursin]

Like I said, action and special effects.

The Mask Of Zorro (another throwback to a long-dormant pulp hero) had action and special effects (sort of), and it cost only $60 million to make. I wish studios would learn movies don't HAVE to cost this damn much. Spend less, make more...isn't that the bottom line for any successful business? If you stripped away the outrageous salaries for Depp, Bruckheimer and Verbinski, you could probably shave a hundred damn million off the budget right there.

Sure, but then they're going to tell you the project isn't marketable without Depp and a director like Verbinski helming it.

From what I could see on Box Office Mojo, MASK OF ZORRO cost $95 million in 1998 dollars, which was a pretty sizable budget...that kind of production from Spielberg down to even Horner's involvement always is going to cost a fair amount when you've got A-list people in every facet of the production. So consider it's 13 years later -- and probably double the special effects, and add in bigger stars/filmmakers at the moment (Banderas wasn't/isn't Depp, Martin Campbell doesn't cost what Verbinski does, etc.) -- and I can see how $200 million can easily happen on THE LONE RANGER. (LEGEND OF ZORRO was made for $75 million seven years later, so it was obviously reduced a fair amount on the original, probably because the first movie, while a solid hit, was not a massive moneymaker for them when you consider how much it cost).

I mean, to us it's all insane money anyway -- but when you see how much these movies gross internationally at times, you can understand why studios are likely to spend so much on them. They're basically making investments which they'll get back in box-office most (though not all) of the time. And westerns are a very hard sell. Yes TRUE GRIT was a massive hit but it was a "right movie, right time, right people"-type of situation and got a different type of audience into see it than the typical movie-goer.

In general, you're right -- studios need to be dropping these type of figures. The Marvel movies are actually very economically-made for the most part -- they cap most of their in-house budgets around $150-$170 million give or take a few dollars and know exactly what they're going to end up with (I'm sure they knew THOR was going to do more foreign than CAPTAIN AMERICA for example, which is why the budget was a hair bigger on the former than the latter).

I think RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES would be the model movie for studios to follow. For them to keep the budget UNDER $100 million, basically spending most of it on the effects and not the cast, and keeping the large-scale action scenes at a relative minimum compared to most modern blockbusters, they managed to make it work. Of course it helps the script was actually good! End result: $175 mil domestic, and over $400 mil worldwide total. That's a big hit for Fox -- it essentially made as much as both Marvel movies in the states and didn't have the benefit of inflated 3-D grosses, which means it actually sold more tickets than they did.

The more perplexing question to me is how a movie like JOHN CARTER has a budget of $250 million. Disney is going to lose their shirt on that movie and I'm sure LONE RANGER went through these budgetary "revisions" because they know they're not going to be getting their investment back on that film. They've also got this Sam Raimi directed OZ movie with James Franco, Zooey Deschanel, Michelle Williams, etc. that also cost $200 mil, though that's much less of a risk there than JOHN CARTER (look at ALICE's insane grosses and that film was crap -- and I'm sure they're going to be counting on the same audience showing up).