Disney has shut down production on Gore Verbinski’s The Lone Ranger which was to star Armie Hammer as the Lone Ranger and Johnny Depp as sidekick Tonto.
Deadline reports that Disney has put a stop to the project over budget concerns, and honestly, I don’t blame them if the figures being quoted are accurate. Disney was reportedly willing to spend $200M — more than enough I think for the type of project — but the budget had ballooned to $250M. Disney got it as low as $232M but that wasn’t enough.
The Lone Ranger was scheduled to begin shooting this October and would have been released on December 21, 2012.