Bruckheimer and 'Pirates' Writers Eye 'The Lone Ranger'
Filed under: Action, RumorMonger, Scripts, Remakes and Sequels, Western
Hi-Ho Silver, bring me lots of money! According to the Hollywood Insider, Terry Rossio and Ted Elliott, the pens behind Pirates of the Caribbean, are trying to cook up a draft of The Lone Ranger for Jerry Bruckheimer to turn into the latest cash cow. Yes, the old masked ranger who rides a white horse, righting wrongs with the help of Tonto. Sure, remakes of old stories, even radio classics, are all the rage, but is a cowboy on a horse going to rake in the cash for Bruckheimer and Disney? Could this really be true?According to the report, the studio won't confirm the assignment, so they can only go by their sources, and as HI describes it, the writing duo is "trying to create a new juggernaut for Bruckheimer to exploit." Sure, they made pirates all the rage, but can they do the same with cowboys? It doesn't seem to be one of those areas that gets tons of mileage, at least, not in the wide world of kids and marketing. I guess if anyone could do it, it's this team, but still. Cowboys and Indians? Can they really pull it off?
As HI says, the concept hasn't been as popular as it used to be. After the '50s television show, there was a 1981 film flop, and more recently, the WB tried to get a television version off the ground with Chad Michael Murray. It's really too bad that that project didn't even make it to the boob tube -- CMM as the Ranger would've amused me. So there you have it, the Lone Ranger might hit the big screen once again, under the powerful arm of Bruckheimer. Does that scare you? Excite you? Or maybe make you feel a little queasy?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-24-2007 @ 5:47PM
peter said...
Question:
I heard awhile ago that Disney had been thinking of starting a franchise around the old Norse/Viking legends, similar to how Pirates plays up all the Pirate legends and stuff.
Any info on that?
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10-24-2007 @ 6:22PM
Joe said...
"Sure, remakes of old stories, even radio classics, are all the rage, but is a cowboy on a horse going to rake in the cash for Bruckheimer and Disney? Could this really be true?"
Well, there was this one time, a film was based off a creaky old theme park ride...I think it did pretty well for itself.
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10-25-2007 @ 2:55AM
dren said...
who infact could we early cast as the lone ranger and his brother who tragically dies as a texas ranger.
top 5 actors to play lone ranger hit me....
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10-25-2007 @ 11:46AM
ML said...
One reason the last one tanked was ... do you remember who played the roles? I don't. It has to be cast right, whether they're names or not. If the story is strong and the casting is right, I think it could work.
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10-25-2007 @ 1:15PM
jvwilliams said...
The WB version DID get on the air - they did a TV movie that could've became a series if the ratings were really there (apparently, the budget for shooting on location was ridiculous). I actually kinda enjoyed it - they changed some things pointlessly (such as LR's name), but he and Tonto worked well together.
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11-02-2007 @ 4:44AM
Kirby Holt said...
I expect this will happen, as Disney has already started planning a "Lone Ranger" attraction for Disneyland's Frontierland.
- kch, http://moviedearest.blogspot.com/
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