A few days ago Disney stopped production of "The Lone Ranger", which was set to star Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer, due to apparent budget worries. The Jerry Bruckheimer produced flick had a very high budget of $250 million.
This led many to wonder how a cowboy film could have such a high budget.
The horror site Dread Central has learned about a possible plot of the film and the reason why the the production was stopped:
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"Mr. Wells got hold of a 2009 draft of the script by Elliot and Rossio (Revolutionary Road scribe Jason Haythe was since brought in to do a rewrite) and got some behind-the-scenes tidbits from an insider revealing that the movie was going to be a special effects-laden extravaganza in the vein of the Pirates movies with the Lone Ranger and Tonto battling werewolves with more emphasis put on Depp’s Tonto than the character the movie is actually named for.
"It was going to be a Tonto show mainly. Tonto as the top dog and more dominant than the Lone Ranger. Tonto and the Indian spirits like Obi Wan Kenobi and the force. The driving engine was going to be Native American occult aspects worked in with werewolves and special effects. But flavored with doses of Native American spirituality in a serious way."
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The concept seems a bit silly at first but when you think about it, it could have made a cool and original action/adventure/horror film similar to Van Helsing and Cowboys and Aliens. And this is why it may have been cancelled, because of Cowboys and Aliens. Dread Central suggests that because of the weak opening for Cowboys and Aliens, a genre mash-up similar to this Lone Ranger film which also had a big name cast, that a +$250 million budget may be too much.
Hopefully this film is made at some point whether it be from Disney or another studio because it has a great cast and interesting concept.
Head over to Dread Central for more details.