The Lone Ranger

[C. Lee]

That's just awful . I also read there was a controversy over dubbing the main actor's voice.

Apparently he couldn't deliver his lines at all, but he was nice looking...they decided to keep him, but actor James Keach dubbed his voice. There have been several actors or actresses over the years who had this happen and went on to have decent careers (example: Andie McDowal was dubbed in the Tarzan movie GREYSTOKE)...but Klinton Spillsbury never did another movie.

I didn't know that WB did such a repulsive thing to the actor of the 50's Lone Ranger TV series, and I'm glad they got their just dessert with the tanking of their 81 movie as a result of their mistreatment toward Clayton Moore.

Moore had been going to conventions and such in his own Ranger suit and wore the mask and everything...after this, he would show up in generic western outfit and had to wear sunglasses to act like a mask. The actual movie is decent...not the greatest, but not the worst...but the WB actions killed it financially.

 

[BestGirl]

I was always curious why people who aren't involved in the movie even care how much it cost. Like really, who cares? It's not going to affect you in any way, shape or form. As if how much it cost will determine your enjoyment of the film.

If a movie's intended to be the first in a franchise, the budget compared to the profit determines whether there will be a sequel. The success of a movie, or lack thereof, also has an impact on the film's genre as a whole.

 

[Bruce Malone]

I like following the ins and outs of the movie industry and for this film from the get go i've been more interested in how it will do and how it's been marketed and how it reflects on disney and depps etc. way more than i have as to what the film is actually about.

As soon as i heard disney was working on a 250 million dollar lone ranger movie starring jonny depp as tonto, i knew this would be a fun ride to follow.

 

[Tim_Riggins]

Fact is western movies, except for a couple of movies like True Grit & Django Unchained (that got more appeal because of Coen Bros, Bridges, Damon, Brolin, and for Django: Tarantino, Foxx, and DiCaprio), are not money makers, they're just not.

Now let's wait the end of the week to see where it sits at the domestic BO, it's heading towards 50 M for the 5 day which is bad, but could be worse imo, curious to see how it's going to work out overseas.

300 M worldwide is the maximum it can reach I think and considering it cost all in all 400 M (budget + 150 marketing), it will be a bomb, Depp can't save it.

 

[Bruce Malone]

I don't agree with that assessment by grouping this in with other traditional westerns though, as an explanation for why nobody should expect big results. Just like how the pirates franchise is not really a traditional pirate film series per se.

I'd put this as much in the western category arguably as Wild Wild West, as they are both star fronted blockbusters that happen to be set in the old west. Nothing really like 3:10 to Yuma or True Grit etc.

 

[Tony Stark]

One of the things that hurt the '81 LONE RANGER movie was the treatment of Clayton Moore.

Clayton Moore was best known as the Ranger from the 50's TV series. He had been making his living for over 20 years by going to conventions, fairs, store openings, etc....dressed as the Lone Ranger and signing autographs. He was famous for this, everyone knew he did it, no one complained. When WB started making the movie, they took him to court over this and made it illegal for him to do this anymore...saying that his dressing up as the Ranger would somehow reduce the profits for the movie. In a way, they were right...because me and millions of others decided to boycott the film because of it. We felt their treatment of him was reprehensible, and did not deserve to be rewarded in any way.

Absolutely. Their treatment of Moore was disgraceful, especially with all of the charity work he did. I remember he continued his work wearing dark sunglasses since he was banned from wearing the mask.

 

[Tony Stark]

I don't agree with that assessment by grouping this in with other traditional westerns though, as an explanation for why nobody should expect big results. Just like how the pirates franchise is not really a traditional pirate film series per se.

I'd put this as much in the western category arguably as Wild Wild West, as they are both star fronted blockbusters that happen to be set in the old west. Nothing really like 3:10 to Yuma or True Grit etc.

The only thug this has in common with True Grit and 3:10 to Yuma, is that they're all remakes.

 

[Silvermoon]

Just got back from seeing it with the fam (me, my sister, my parents, my brother & sister-in-law) - we all loved it. It was a packed theater (and we ended up running into my aunt & uncle and my cousin and her husband at the same showing as well) and the audience all seemed to enjoy it as well (didn't see anyone walk out that didn't walk back in... that I noticed at least)

Yes, there could've been some fat trimmed/some parts tightened to cut back on the run time.

But ultimately we got what we expected out of it. A fun entertaining western summer flick. My mom says seeing it took her back to her childhood, especially once that William Tell Overture kicked in. I liked the characterizations of Tonto & the Ranger and I liked their chemistry with each other. Silver/the horse, was amazing and I liked how he interacted with our lead characters (that must've been fun). As I said earlier in this thread, I love the music... I like that there are hints of the Overture throughout some of the other pieces.

The scenery, also, was absolutely gorgeous. Loved seeing the beautiful red rock of Moab and the other gorgeous locations of the south-western US

All in all, I'd give the movie an 8/10 (had it been a bit tighter in runtime it probably would've bumped it up to a 9 or possibly even a 10)

 

[I SEE SPIDEY]

Fact is western movies, except for a couple of movies like True Grit & Django Unchained (that got more appeal because of Coen Bros, Bridges, Damon, Brolin, and for Django: Tarantino, Foxx, and DiCaprio), are not money makers, they're just not.

Now let's wait the end of the week to see where it sits at the domestic BO, it's heading towards 50 M for the 5 day which is bad, but could be worse imo, curious to see how it's going to work out overseas.

300 M worldwide is the maximum it can reach I think and considering it cost all in all 400 M (budget + 150 marketing), it will be a bomb, Depp can't save it.

50mil is going to be very tough to get. If it follows in Men in Black 2's footsteps, then it is not getting 50mil. I'm thinking 43-47mil. With a very slim chance of hitting 50mil. If it gets those kinds of numbers, Boxoffice.com prediction or projection of 47mil is going to be pretty damn good. THR and Variety were saying 60-70mil was what the film was tracking to do. Those were already not great numbers for such an expensive film but the actual numbers are making the tracking numbers look amazing.

The international is a tricky beast because on the one hand you have Depp in a blockbuster which should mean 300mil at least overseas but on the other hand you have a sorta western which doesn't sell at all. Can Depp's star power overcome it being a Western? The movie's going to need to do 400-500mil overseas to make up for how it's doing here in the states and maybe it will? You never know.

 

[DACrowe]

All great characters who I love and are not well handled.

The Phantom done now in a serious way with all the problems in the 3rd world could be an amazing story. Pick your hell hole in Africa, South Asia, and throw him in there. It can be done like any jungle action movie (think Rambo jungle scenes, but with a horse and wolf too), keep the costume as dark a purple (almost black) as you can get, let him kill people.

But would people pay to see that in droves? Yes, they paid to see Batman done dark, but Batman has and will (for the foreseeable future) be a known brand commodity. I am not sure anyone remembers who the Phantom is. Not many, at the very least.

 

[Lighthouse]

Another promising franchise bites the dust. It's too bad, I really like the idea of the Lone Ranger, and wish he was in the care of better filmmakers.

These icons need to be saved from "the character arc of the reluctant hero".

 

[Sawyer]

Another promising franchise bites the dust. It's too bad, I really like the idea of the Lone Ranger, and wish he was in the care of better filmmakers.

Different filmmakers might have allowed for a better film, but I don't think anyone was going to get a franchise out of this.

 

[Lighthouse]

Different filmmakers might have allowed for a better film, but I don't think anyone was going to get a franchise out of this.

I think a modestly budgeted Lone Ranger film that didn't have to make a billion dollars could have become a franchise. That way, it wouldn't have to cave to demands of it's star, and appeal to everywhere outside the US. Unfortunately, they become saddled with giant budgets, and stories where we have to wait till the very end for the hero we wanted to see.

 

[PacificBoy]

Different filmmakers might have allowed for a better film, but I don't think anyone was going to get a franchise out of this.

Surely there was the hope, at least on the studio's part, when Johnny Depp was cast, and acting the Depp out of the role. The studio was hoping to recreate Pirates on land and in the new frontier.

 

[Raiden]

Surely there was the hope, at least on the studio's part, when Johnny Depp was cast, and acting the Depp out of the role. The studio was hoping to recreate Pirates on land and in the new frontier.

I don't know why they think this movie is just like Pirate in a Western setting. Depp isn't playing the main character, like he did with Capt. Sparrow, although his Tonto ended up taking spotlights away from the "main" character of Lone Ranger.

 

[Lighthouse]

It is absolutely going for the Pirate tone and feel throughout, except much more violent and not fun.

 

[Lighthouse]

I'm sad about this film, because I think there is room for "square" heroes in our cinema. The main argument is that "they are perfect and boring", but there was a time where depth was done by the actor's face and not by endless exposition. I think there is room in this age of the reluctant hero who is already morally sound and wants to be a hero and stick to a code. I think if with the right scriptwriter, actor and director it is absolutely possible.

 

[terry78]

I got tomorrow off so probably gonna go see it again just to take it all in. I usually need to see a movie twice before I make a final call.

 

[James]

I loved it.

 

[sueb1863]

I don't know why they think this movie is just like Pirate in a Western setting. Depp isn't playing the main character, like he did with Capt. Sparrow, although his Tonto ended up taking spotlights away from the "main" character of Lone Ranger.

Jack Sparrow wasn't the main character of Pirates. The main characters were Elizabeth Swann and Will Turner, Jack Sparrow was a supporting character who just turned out to be a lot more interesting than they were.

Apparently Despicable Me 2 is destroying Lone Ranger, it made $34 million to LR's 9.7 million yesterday. Doesn't look like any sequels will be coming out of this one.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/04/showbiz/movies/box-office-update-despicable/index.html?hpt=hp_t3

 

[I SEE SPIDEY]

Jack Sparrow should have never been bumped up to lead in the Pirates sequels. He's best as the lovable supporting character.

 

[The Guard]

Jack Sparrow was always one of the leads of PIRATES, along with Barbossa. He had too much development and story focus, even in BLACK PEARL, to qualify as a supporting character. He just wasn't the main one until PIRATES 4.

 

[ThePhantasm]

I just saw it. My overall feeling was "meh." Not as good as any of the pirates installments, and The Lone Ranger was a loser for most of the movie and really was played up as an idiot for comic relief. The ending was what most of the film SHOULD have been like, but it was far too little far too late.

 

[Rocketman]

Just got back from it. I think history will look back at this movie as one of the strangest things that has ever occurred in movie history - in movie history.

- 250 million dollar budget
- A total No-No for a genre (Wild Wild West, Cowboys and Aliens)
- A Lone Ranger movie where Lone Ranger isn't the star
- Johnny Depp stars as Tonto

Like, not only is this a list of what not to do, but I'm scratching my head as to why it actually occurred. Like, Disney actually saw all these things and pressed the "Go" button anyway.

I don't know. I just feel like students will be studying this film 30 years from now. Books will be written about it.

And the oddest, most earth-shattering thing about all of this is.... I liked the movie. I enjoyed it.

I guess either I must be nuts, or Disney is so nuts that they're geniuses. I guess we'll meet back here in three years when the Zorro reboot is released and we're talking about Cate Blanchett's performance as Zorro, which only lasts about 10 minutes of the whole film.

 

[TheVileOne]

Disney saw all these things but the reason they couldn't say no is because it was the Pirates team and THIS was what they wanted to make. Also Rich Ross was kind of not doing well in his run as the Disney Studios head after replacing Dick Cook. He was getting heat for not really greenlighting any big releases. He didn't want to greenlight this, but Disny asked Verbinski to bring the budget down to $215 million and they did. And it still ended up going over budget anyway. What's ironic is Rich Ross ended up getting ousted right as this was going into production I think after John Carter came out and basically sealed his fate. Thing is, he didn't greenlight John Carter either, that was another project from the Cook regime. But the production all happened under Ross' watch.

If they wanted to make this for say $130 million like the first Pirates, I probably would've gone like, yeah OK. But $250 million, geezus.

I mean look, I liked the movie as well. I enjoyed it as well Rocketman. I think the first and third acts are really well done and constructed. But the middle is an absolute ordeal to get through.

But at the same time, I think the project is absurd that they spent so much on it and made such obvious mistakes. I respect Depp and Verbinski as artists, but IMHO they got way too indulgent with WAY too much money.