The Lone Ranger - Part 2

[Human Torch]

I agree.Badly underrated film.A lot of fun.

 

[MadVillainy]

Johnny Depp Blames Critics for Lone Ranger Bombing at the Box Office

The Lone Ranger
Why did Lone Ranger tank? Johnny Depp will tell you why.

The actor spoke out for the first time since the flick's downfall at the box office, and blamed the film's underwhelming release on the critics, according to Variety .

"I think the reviews were written seven to eight months before we released the film," Depp explained in a new interview.

WATCH: Liam Hemsworth talks about Jennifer Lawrence's success

He continued to state that the movie never stood a chance because of all the negative press surrounding it.

"I think the reviews were written when they heard Gore [Verbinski] and Jerry [Bruckheimer] and me were going to do The Lone Ranger," he said. "They had expectations that it must be a blockbuster. I didn't have any expectations of that. I never do."

Bruckheimer agreed with Depp's reasoning, telling Yahoo U.K.-Ireland, "I think they were reviewing the budget, not reviewing the movie. The audience doesn't care what the budget is—they pay the same amount if it costs a dollar or $20 million."

He continued, "It's unfortunate because the movie is a terrific movie, it's a great epic film. It has lots of humor. Its one of those movies that whatever critics missed in it this time, they'll review it in a few years and see that they made a mistake."

As of Aug. 3, The Lone Ranger, which cost $250 million to make, has reportedly grossed $86 million at the U.S. box office.

http://xfinity.comcast.net/articles/entertainment-eonline/20130806/b446082/

 

[warhorse78]

I think the critics were harsh with it. But with that said, I think it was a combination of not very good trailers, and being released in a very crowded summer when it should have been released in the fall/winter time, and that they did spend way too much on it. And I'm sure the critics didn't help either.

 

[Poni_Boy]

Very few times do critics really cause a movie to fail but I think LR is one of the exceptions. It opened with 10% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. That didn't happen with any other big summer movie that I can recall. And THAT was THE talking point on so many public forums. Every news station here in New York centered its LR coverage on critics panning it, not on the movie itself. I've honestly never seen anything like it not even with John Carter. When you have a large portion of the most vocal critics adamantly against a movie that has a big star attached for months and months before it comes out it absolutely causes moviegoers to hesitate going to it. The marketing didn't help either, but at that point the ship had sunk. A shame considering it was an uphill battle to begin with.

 

[TheVileOne]

I'm not buying it. Transformers 2 got some of the worst reviews imaginable and that was a big talking point. Still made tons of dough.

Maybe they shouldn't have spent $250 million to make such a long, indulgent movie.

 

[I SEE SPIDEY]

So he's saying the bad trailers had nothing to do with it? Honestly, I understand that Johnny, Jerry and Armie are disappointed and I have my own issues with the critics but I think they sound like cry babies. I think they sound super pathetic right now.

Everybody though World War Z and a few years ago Rise of the Planet of the Apes were DOA and guess what? They were hits that managed decent to good reviews.

The Lone Ranger is a bomb
because Verbinski and Depp decided that instead of a low key reasonable 75-100mil budgeted Lone Ranger film they wanted to do a 200mil one. The movie was doomed by their greed, they saw Pirate sized dollar signs and got bit in the ass. Suck it up Jerry, Armie, Johnny and Gore, suck it up.

 

[TheVileOne]

I agree. They should suck it up. I think Gore Verbinski would be more realistic though. He didn't comment in that article, but when I interviewed him, he did say that Pirates 3 got too big and unwieldy basically (too many subplots and too many characters and things got lost in the shuffle).

Also, World War Z was more expensive than the studio is letting on anyway. Some reports suggest with all the delays and reshoots it cost as much as $400 million or more.

 

[Poni_Boy]

Transformers 2 didn't open with the worst Rotten Tomatoes score of the year for a blockbuster. Transformers 2 wasn't plagued with over a year of bad press. Transformers 2 was the followup to a widely successful film. Transformers 2 didn't have an A-list star in the lead that so many critics were eager to bash.

You have to factor that into why so many critics hated LR before they even saw it. The writing was on the wall, too many influential people wanted to hate it. It's not a new situation. The opposite happens too. Look at Pacific Rim.

Just look at the RT score for LR now. It went up 18 points since its release. That's a ridiculous rarity for a movie that gets almost universally panned before release.

I don't read what they're saying at critics are the sole reason it failed. But critics are definitely a major contributing factor to why it was failing out of the gate.

 

[TheVileOne]

I still don't believe critics are that influential. Godzilla was hurt by bad reviews as well, but the movie still laid an egg.

The movie did not have a winning formula for success.

I admit it was an OK flick, but the second act was dreadful and it takes too long to give you some stuff that was actually good and fun.

Depp's performance is also borderline atrocious. I think he's the worst thing about the movie. Jack Sparrow this is not.

 

[I SEE SPIDEY]

I agree. They should suck it up. I think Gore Verbinski would be more realistic though. He didn't comment in that article, but when I interviewed him, he did say that Pirates 3 got too big and unwieldy basically (too many subplots and too many characters and things got lost in the shuffle).

Also, World War Z was more expensive than the studio is letting on anyway. Some reports suggest with all the delays and reshoots it cost as much as $400 million or more.

I'm not surprised to hear that, I don't think Rise of the Planet of the Apes cost 90mil either, I mean I have eyes and a brain lol.

Rumor had it that Benjamin Button cost 300+mil at least because of the cutting edge tech they had to create to use to de-age Pitt.

I also am not surprised to hear that the critics were overly hard on The Lone Ranger, that's what they do sometimes. I'm not trying to defend the shady ass critics, I'm trying to say that I think most of the failure was the studio and creatives fault.

 

[jacobed]

Hahahahaha Depp could not be more wrong

 

[sueb1863]

I'm not buying it either. If the public loves a movie they'll go see it and not care about the critics. There have been plenty of movies that got slammed by the critics but ended up being hits anyway. The public simply didn't want to see this movie.

 

[Project862006]

hey armie man up taylor took battle ship and john carter on the chin like a man

 

[dark_b]

i think this was a combination of bad reviews plus Johnny Depp again in a disney blockbuster with white face paint.bad reviews are not enough.this is 2013. its possible to get feedback from a movie in less than 24 hours. you can read around 200 opinions after the movie is out for 1 week.

bad reviews are not the reason IMO

the director,producer and actors are in a very bad situation. they need to promote the movie after the movie bombed. if more actors and directors would get asked you would have more ''interesting'' answers.

anyone remember Singer in 2006? poor guy. he was asked about the POTC 2 box office

 

[Project862006]

it is funny they act like they are defending some intelligent misunderstood risky against the establishment film with deep powerful themes that went over the audiences head LOL

 

[dark_b]

true.

there is a big difference when you ask Fincher about the Fight Club BO and Bruckheimer about a summer blockbuster.

 

[I SEE SPIDEY]

hey armie man up taylor took battle ship and john carter on the chin like a man

I understand that he's still promoting the movie but he doesn't have to give us b.s lines about big bad meanie head critics. He could have simply brushed the question aside.

 

[Project862006]

you would think jerry learned his lesson with prince of persia

he badly is trying to recapture potc formula

 

[dark_b]

its a dangerous game to go after critics. he will need them if he will be in a small low budget movie with a good performance. because then the critics promote the movie to the masses.

 

[dark_b]

you would think jerry learned his lesson with prince of persia

he badly is trying to recapture potc formula

but i dont understand why POP bombed. the main actors had chemistry and it had some good action. story was not to complicated. i think it was a decent movie.

 

[I SEE SPIDEY]

I thought Jake G was completely miscast and that getting rid of the monsters from the videogame was a stupid ass move. It was a meh movie to me. It bombed because it didn't look special.

 

[dark_b]

they were saving for the sequel.

 

[I SEE SPIDEY]

its a dangerous game to go after critics. he will need them if he will be in a small low budget movie with a good performance. because then the critics promote the movie to the masses.

It is dangerous for a young actor to go after critics but I'd hope the critics were mature enough to just accurately review the man's performance.

they were saving for the sequel.

A lot of good that did them.

 

[ThePhantasm]

they were saving for the sequel.

Saving for the sequel is always a bad idea.

Because sequels are not guaranteed.

 

[James]

Hahahahaha Depp could not be more wrong

I loved The Lone Ranger, but even I'd have a hard time agreeing with Depp's analysis here. Maybe the critics were overly harsh for whatever reason, but that doesn't change the fact scores of people who went and saw it ended up disliking the film. General Audience Bob doesn't like a film, he tells his friends, and Bob's friend's don't go see it at the cinema. Critics and marketing are all well and good when discussing a film's success, but it's folly for the people behind the films to think word-of-mouth isn't one of, if not the most powerful selling tool.

Of course, the stars and directors are fully aware of how powerful word-of-mouth is, but they can't come out and say "Too many people didn't like our movie, so we made no money." With this in mind I guess we can look forward to much more of the critic-blaming game for the foreseeable future. Nice try Mr. Depp, but I'm not buying your excuses (although if makes you feel any better, I will probably be one of the few people to buy the DVD.)