The Lone Ranger

[terry78]

Race lift because there aren't that many popular native american actors.

 

[MadVillainy]

Then I say go audition ones. Put a name as The Lone Ranger and then get a newcomer/up and comer as Tonto

 

[Asgard]

I don't know why a Western can't just be a Western. Why does it always have to be some sort of a genre crossover?

Disney wants another big tentpole summer action extravaganza thatll bring in $300+ million dollars in the box office and then they can rinse and repeat two more times or three in the case of the POTC franchise.

I really doubt a more realistic approach to the Lone Ranger could even break the 200 million domestic box office mark.

Then I say go audition ones. Put a name as The Lone Ranger and then get a newcomer/up and comer as Tonto

There's no Native American actor alive or dead thatll bring in the money on name recognition alone like Depp can. Thats the whole point of hiring him. If Disney werent concerned about building a new franchise then I can see them hiring someone like Adam Beach. Besides Depp guesses he might be part Native American so I guess that's something.

 

[Liam_H]

Then I say go audition ones. Put a name as The Lone Ranger and then get a newcomer/up and comer as Tonto

They would if this movie cost like $50 million and if Disney wasn't gonna go for another billion dollar franchise.

 

[GunRanger]

how about we get a tonto who is actually indian not some so and so % indian it is like keanu being portrayed as a samurai yeah he has asian blood in him but it is not the same

Keanu's character is a half-breed.

 

[Doctor Jones]

Depp is also has Native American blood in him.

 

[Frodo]

I gotta agree with Disney on this one. There really is no reason that this film should cost 250 million make and they could surely come up with a script that would be reasonably budgeted. If it were another Pirates film I could maybe understand but it sounds like what WB did with Green Lantern .

I'm also not to keen on the whole werewolves angle either. I don't mind Depp's casting but I think if the film is called the Lone Ranger , you're gonna have to at least have it be a 50/50 Lone Ranger and Tonto film

 

[SoulManX]

So the Kato Show with Green Hornet aka The Tonto show with the Lone Ranger


Sorry but a western should be no more that 60 to 80 million tops

 

[cherokeesam]

Perhaps the thinking is a western movie on it's own won't
Be successful.

True Grit was a fluke

To make a genre like this work you need a good chemisty between lead actors and one or two explosions(sadly)

It's sort of like how "sherlock Holmes" being handled

True Grit wasn't a fluke.
True Grit is proof that there *is* a market for Westerns (admittedly far more an American one than an international one), that don't have to be gimmicked out with cross-genre bull****.

In fact, I'd go so far as to say that the success of True Grit over Cowboys & Aliens and Jonah Hex and The Warrior's Way (cowboys & ninjas? nobody saw that last year? okay then) proves that a pure-genre Western has higher marketability than one that dabbles in sci-fi, fantasy, martial arts or whatever.

Westerns are *not* Gore Verbinski/ Michael Bay material. Westerns are, by nature, small films that focus entirely on simple stories, character interactions, and setting. There's no room for massive battles and sparkly vampires and exploding cities and dogfights with giant spaceships. Just straightforward tales of gun justice on a sparse, lawless frontier.

And yes, that means that a $250 million budget is out of the question.

Look, if Disney wants to make an *epic* movie about Native Americans set in the Old West, then by all means, do it. Just don't call it The Lone Ranger, which promises/sells something entirely different by its pedigree.

And hey, epic movies about Native Americans set in the Old West *do* sell. Dances With Wolves is by a wide, wide margin the most successful Western ever created (and even did a larger box office overseas than it did domestically). I think a historical epic about the Indian Wars would be huge, grandiose, meaningful and popular, all over the world. And if you want to flavor it with Native American supernatural spirituality and turn it into a Star Wars of the Old West, then so be it.

The thing is, you wouldn't even have to fictionalize most of it. All you'd have to do is draw from the historical record and make it about Red Cloud, Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull and the Sioux Wars --- only tell the story from the *Indian* side this time and show Custer as the villain he truly was, instead of the martyr for white supremacy and Western conquest ("Custer Died For Your Sins").

Hell, you've even got a built-in trilogy for it: 1) the Civil War era that saw Sioux uprisings in Colorado and the Dakota territories and featured infamous massacres (Fetterman and Mankato) and led to the rise of Red Cloud as a chief to unite the tribes; 2) the 1876-1877 Sioux War that featured the high-water mark of the Lakota Nation at Little Bighorn; and 3) the tragic epilogue of the Ghost Dance of 1889-1890 which died in the dust at Wounded Knee.

*There's* your Native American epic, Disney/Verbinski.

 

[SoulManX]

True Grit wasn't a fluke.
True Grit is proof that there *is* a market for Westerns (admittedly far more an American one than an international one), that don't have to be gimmicked out with cross-genre bull****.

In fact, I'd go so far as to say that the success of True Grit over Cowboys & Aliens and Jonah Hex and The Warrior's Way (cowboys & ninjas? nobody saw that last year? okay then) proves that a pure-genre Western has higher marketability than one that dabbles in sci-fi, fantasy, martial arts or whatever.

Westerns are *not* Gore Verbinski/ Michael Bay material. Westerns are, by nature, small films that focus entirely on simple stories, character interactions, and setting. There's no room for massive battles and sparkly vampires and exploding cities and dogfights with giant spaceships. Just straightforward tales of gun justice on a sparse, lawless frontier.

And yes, that means that a $250 million budget is out of the question.

Look, if Disney wants to make an *epic* movie about Native Americans set in the Old West, then by all means, do it. Just don't call it The Lone Ranger, which promises/sells something entirely different by its pedigree.

And hey, epic movies about Native Americans set in the Old West *do* sell. Dances With Wolves is by a wide, wide margin the most successful Western ever created (and even did a larger box office overseas than it did domestically). I think a historical epic about the Indian Wars would be huge, grandiose, meaningful and popular, all over the world. And if you want to flavor it with Native American supernatural spirituality and turn it into a Star Wars of the Old West, then so be it.

The thing is, you wouldn't even have to fictionalize most of it. All you'd have to do is draw from the historical record and make it about Red Cloud, Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull and the Sioux Wars --- only tell the story from the *Indian* side this time and show Custer as the villain he truly was, instead of the martyr for white supremacy and Western conquest ("Custer Died For Your Sins").

Hell, you've even got a built-in trilogy for it: 1) the Civil War era that saw Sioux uprisings in Colorado and the Dakota territories and featured infamous massacres (Fetterman and Mankato) and led to the rise of Red Cloud as a chief to unite the tribes; 2) the 1876-1877 Sioux War that featured the high-water mark of the Lakota Nation at Little Bighorn; and 3) the tragic epilogue of the Ghost Dance of 1889-1890 which died in the dust at Wounded Knee.

*There's* your Native American epic, Disney/Verbinski.

Hell yeah!!!

 

[dark_b]

I don't know why a Western can't just be a Western. Why does it always have to be some sort of a genre crossover?

because Depp and Bruch dont want to make a movie that makes 100 million domestic. they are hoping for POTC money.a simple question. do you think a simple western movie can make POTC money or Alice money?

 

[Gold Samurai]

And if you want to flavor it with Native American supernatural spirituality and turn it into a Star Wars of the Old West, then so be it.

Writer- Let's have an Indian on the battlefield conjur up a fist construct

Writer 2- And another who can make a catapult.

Writer- Green lantern mixed with Indians!



*Sigh* Anyone remember "Unforgiven"? or "Last of the Mohicans"?

 

[Eddie Dean]

Most straight Westerns are either action or drama films within a particular setting. There're not avant-garde art films that the mainstream can't wrap their mind around. No Country for Old Men is just a Peckinpah-styled Western in modern day. There's no reason they can't be successful on their own terms.

 

[Dark Raven]

Also most Westerns aren't about a particular famous hero but just about regular cowboys. The Lone Ranger stands out because he is a classic hero with a name, unlike say No Country For Old Me where the characters in there aren't known at all. So people wouldn't just be going to see a western with the Lone Ranger but a known character.

 

[sagemoveman]

where were they going to blow 250 million dollars on ? anyone else get vibes of Wild Wild West reboot?

 

[Homer J. Fong]

WOW, I just read on IGN about all the werewolves and other supernatural gobbledegook. The more that I find out about this thing, the happier I am that it's been put on hold, and the more I hope that it's either severely retooled or canceled entirely.

 

[Philly Phanboy]

Werewolves? I'm guessing the writers couldn't wrap their heads around the Lone Ranger using silver bullets without this supernatural tangent?

 

[cherokeesam]

Werewolves? I'm guessing the writers couldn't wrap their heads around the Lone Ranger using silver bullets without this supernatural tangent?

You're probably exactly right.

Also most Westerns aren't about a particular famous hero but just about regular cowboys. The Lone Ranger stands out because he is a classic hero with a name, unlike say No Country For Old Me where the characters in there aren't known at all. So people wouldn't just be going to see a western with the Lone Ranger but a known character.

Not to be nitpicky, but there probably *are* more Westerns about actual people (Wyatt Earp, Tombstone, Young Guns, The Alamo, The Long Riders, American Outlaws, Butch and Sundance, Geronimo: An American Legend, etc.) and TV/film remakes (True Grit, Maverick, Wild Wild West, 3:10 To Yuma, The Lone Ranger) than there are Westerns with completely original stories.

Writer- Let's have an Indian on the battlefield conjur up a fist construct

Writer 2- And another who can make a catapult.

Writer- Green lantern mixed with Indians!



*Sigh* Anyone remember "Unforgiven"? or "Last of the Mohicans"?

I should....I was an extra on Last of the Mohicans.

 

[bunk]

I should....I was an extra on Last of the Mohicans.

Awesome! One of my favorite movies of all time.

 

[Dark Raven]

You're probably exactly right.



Not to be nitpicky, but there probably *are* more Westerns about actual people (Wyatt Earp, Tombstone, Young Guns, The Alamo, The Long Riders, American Outlaws, Butch and Sundance, Geronimo: An American Legend, etc.) and TV/film remakes (True Grit, Maverick, Wild Wild West, 3:10 To Yuma, The Lone Ranger) than there are Westerns with completely original stories.

I'm not talking about historical figures. I'm talking about fictional heroes. I should have specified that. In other words, a literary/cinematic/TV character with a reputation already behind him that has previously headlined a franchise. That way, people aren't just turning up to see a western, but a new adaptation of a known (or previously known) franchise.

There hasn't been a Lone Ranger movie in years (and that 1981 movie "Legend of the Lone Ranger" with Klinton Spilsbury was a big box office flop). Now would be the time to do it properly and tell his story, a la Batman Begins or Casino Royale. Disney shouldn't bring werewolves and spirits into it. There was no need for something that radical for franchises such as Batman or Bond that were growing stale/ had stalled. I think this supernatural version of theirs could easily stall the Lone Ranger franchise again and then they'll think that people just aren't interested in it, when it was because of their ridiculous vision. I am sure audiences would appreciate a proper retelling of it with a good story and good action sequences and that could still do very well.

 

[Thebumwhowalks]

They thought they could stick Will Smith in a Western, fill it with any old sci-fi/fantasy crap, like they had in Men In Black, throw a ton of money at it, and folk would flock to see it.

this is the exact same type of deal, they think they can just repeat formula in a different milieu with the same director and star and it will work, and if it doesn't, folk will come to see Depp anyway, I'm glad this movie got cancelled.

edit: I only saw the first Pirates film, it was alright in a watch it on the telly if it happens to be on and you don't feel like you've wasted your time kind of way, but I hear the 3 sequels weren't too good, so looking at the odds, what are the chances the LR would have been like the first one, 4/1 right? lol At best you might've got a good fun diversion, but most likely it would have been a confused mish mash of an expensive mess, ie depressing that the movie spent that much money and then flopped.

 

[dark_b]

Werewolves? I'm guessing the writers couldn't wrap their heads around the Lone Ranger using silver bullets without this supernatural tangent?

again............the producers,director and actor were trying to make a billion franchise. it was to make money. a lot money . you can nto make that kid of money with a normal western movie.

 

[Dark Raven]

again............the producers,director and actor were trying to make a billion franchise. it was to make money. a lot money . you can nto make that kid of money with a normal western movie.

They were reaching too high and would fall so low, instead of trying to just make a good and faithful movie. They want a billion dollar franchise but might have trouble breaking even with that kind of supernatural plot and confused genres.

 

[C. Lee]

I should....I was an extra on Last of the Mohicans.

That's awesome....it's one of my favorite movies.


I wasn't high on this version of the Lone Ranger from the minute I heard that Depp was attached. While I generally like him and the movies he makes.....I just didn't see him as Tonto and knew that it would be the TONTO and the Lone Ranger......


A lone Ranger movie can be done right at a lower cost....but it has to be headed by someone wanting to make a western and not an artsy statement.

 

[Dark Raven]

That's awesome....it's one of my favorite movies.


I wasn't high on this version of the Lone Ranger from the minute I heard that Depp was attached. While I generally like him and the movies he makes.....I just didn't see him as Tonto and knew that it would be the TONTO and the Lone Ranger......


A lone Ranger movie can be done right at a lower cost....but it has to be headed by someone wanting to make a western and not an artsy statement.

I know that he doesn't usually make other people's movies but only his own, but wouldn't it be cool if Clint Eastwood directed a Lone Ranger movie? He certainly knows the genre.

On second thoughts though, he never played this type of cowboy. He might end up making the Lone Ranger more like the Man with no name or the High Plains Drifter/ Pale Rider archetype, which wouldn't be a bad movie in itself, but just not the movie people are expecting to see.