The Lone Ranger Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Mere days ago I passed on the report that Disney was making The Lone Ranger their priority and pushing back Pirates, which wasn't too surprising since Ranger had a director and Pirates didn't. Well, belay all that, because ComingSoon caught up with Jerry Bruckheimer, who assured Jack Sparrow fans that a fourth installment was just around the corner, and suggested that Ranger had stalled out for the moment.

When it comes to the masked man, there's no hunt for a lead, and Bruckheimer & Co. are essentially waiting to hire a director, and for Disney to hit the gas on the whole thing. Despite all reports, Mike Newell is not attached to the chair because he's still hard at work on Prince of Persia -- and frankly, Disney could be waiting to see how that flies before signing him onto another franchise maker.

But Pirates, well, that's a sure thing. "It's a great franchise for [Disney] and for us, too," Bruckheimer said. "We love the character and Johnny was really excited about coming back to Captain Jack. He certainly is interested in Tonto, but Disney's priority is to get Pirates made first. You never know what's going to happen, but they would like it." Franchise scribes Terry Rossio and Ted Elliott (who are also writing Ranger) are scribbling a script as you read this, one that Bruckheimer promises is "funny" and a "whole new way of going."

Well, we know where we're going -- weighing anchor and heading back to sea instead of riding off into the sunset. As someone who enjoyed the Pirates franchise, I'm pleased we're going back so soon (especially if they get Geoffery Rush back) but it's always deflating when something fresh gets stuck spinning its wheels.

I was just watching Monsters, Inc this past week, and wondering why it belonged to Pixar's no sequel club ... and guess what's in the works now? Dedicated Disney blogger Jim Hill visited this year's Licensing International Expo, and talked to the fine people who were representing Disney and Pixar, and buying up licensing rights.

Reportedly, Pete Docter (fresh off his success with Up) is planning to return to Monstropolis and helm a sequel to his previous Pixar effort, Monsters, Inc. Obviously, story details are shrouded in secrecy, but they've got Cars 2 and Toy Story 3 in the works, it's not much of a stretch to believe they'd revisit Mike and Sully. While it's a delightfully complete film, it's also a wonderful world, and I'd like to go there again.

Hill also reports that Disney is really focusing its efforts on The Lone Ranger, and are hoping to have it in theaters by Summer 2011. As you may remember, Mike Newell was hired to direct, and Johnny Depp is set to play Tonto.
Intent on launching a Ranger franchise, they've pushed back Jack Sparrow's, and are now planning to release the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean installment to a tenative date of Summer 2012. Both franchises offer a dose of Depp, so the Pirates fanbase should be pretty happy with that. Frankly, I'm willing to trade tricorns just to know just who they cast as that masked man ....

It's been a long time since we had any buzz or movement on The Lone Ranger. For a movie that reunites Jerry Bruckheimer, Johnny Depp, and Pirates' scribes Terry Rossio and Ted Elliott ... it's just kind of sitting there. But that's probably a good thing -- we want them to take their time.

At last though, they might have a director. Production Weekly Tweeted that Mike Newell is "in talks" to direct The Lone Ranger for Disney. Yes, the British director of Four Weddings and a Funeral, High Fidelity, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and perhaps most importantly, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Clearly, Bruckheimer is hiring from within the "family," but let's look at it as a sign that Disney and Bruckheimer might really dig what Newell did with Prince of Persia. (Erik Davis liked what he saw too, for the record.)

It's not official, but let's talk about it like it is. I thought Newell did a pretty bang-up job with Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and directors from Across the Pond tend to do a pretty good job tackling Western mythology like The Lone Ranger. Do you think he'd be a good pick?

Cinematical had a chance to chat up Jerry Bruckheimer earlier today while in London visiting the set of a really big Disney film that we can't talk much about ... yet. However, while there our small group of dedicated online writers pressed The Bruck on his upcoming projects -- most notably Pirates of the Caribbean 4, The Lone Ranger, and National Treasure 3.

Regarding National Treasure 3 and Pirates 4 (which he says is eying a 2012 release as of right now), those scripts are being worked on as we speak. Of course IMAX and 3-D technology was part of the discussion, and it was not ruled out. Says Bruck, "Absolutely. I'd love to do it, so let's just see if we can work it through the production schedule with everything else." Additionally, while Johnny Depp has officially signed on to star in The Lone Ranger as Tonto, rumors George Clooney snagged the lead role as The Lone Ranger were quickly dismissed by Bruckheimer: "We haven't decided who is going to play the Lone Ranger yet. Get a director first and then figure it out." We'll have so much more from London and from this "really giganto Disney film" at a later date. (And trust me, you will definitely want to read that story.)

With the success of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, it was pretty much inevitable that more would come our way. But it wasn't all signed, dotted, and crossed until now. Variety reports that Johnny Depp has finally signed on for a fourth film. I can only hope that this time around, he gets the passion and the girl. Or at the very least, I hope she doesn't pick a bland dude who lacks charisma and chemistry instead. Ick.

But that's not all, folks! Depp, with a big ol' soft spot for iconic roles lately, has signed on for one more (two if you count Mad Hatter in Burton's Alice in Wonderland). As briefly reported yesterday, he's also going to play Tonto as part of Jerry Bruckheimer's adaptation of The Lone Ranger. The man must like his Bruck. I'm glad he's part Cherokee so there's more basis to this pick than just "Holy crap Depp is awesome and brings in big money!" But that leaves a pressing question:

We still don't have the Lone dude himself. Is there an actor out there who would make a good Lone Ranger, AND be able to fight his way out of Depp's talented shadow? Weigh in below!

Who was that masked man? Audiences will soon have the chance to find out. The Hollywood Reporter has broken the news that Disney plans to revive The Lone Ranger franchise (as previously reported when it was in rumor form).

And this is going to be a big budget reboot. Writers Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, the two folks behind the Pirates of the Caribbean and The Mask of Zorro screenplays, are in talks to write the script for Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer. If they can revive pirates, a long dead and verboten franchise, surely they can do the same for the Lone Ranger.

It will definitely need all the help it can get. The last time the character was revived on the big screen was 1981 in The Legend of the Lone Ranger. It was such a failure that the film's star, Klinton Spilsbury, never worked in Hollywood again. There was a WB television movie in 2003, with the idea of launching a weekly series, but it too failed.

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?