Kevin Costner’s major project Horizon makes an impression with its four-film schedule, but in comparison most expensive western of all time the Yellowstone star’s saga sounds like a bargain. This film celebrated its world premiere on June 22, 2013. Behind it was the team that made the Pirates of the Caribbean series a success. Together they adapted a pop culture icon. Despite all the positive signs on paper, Lone Ranger posted negative records at the box office.
Lone Ranger was supposed to be the new Pirates of the Caribbean
The character of the Lone Ranger goes back to a radio show from 1933: He is a masked avenger, a mix of western and superhero. The film adaptation takes place in 1869. Railroad tycoon Latham Cole (Tom Wilkinson) wants to frame the local native tribes for crimes with the help of the bandit Butch Cavendish (William Fichtner) in order to use their land to expand his rail network. During Cavendish’s pursuit, the young lawyer John Reid (Armie Hammer) is also present, whose brother is killed.
The seriously injured John is saved from the eternal hunting grounds thanks to a white horse named Silver and the help of the indigenous loner Tonto (Johnny Depp). Rather involuntary Lone Ranger John and Tonto team up against the villains.
The Western’s budget skyrocketed
Lone Ranger made headlines in advance because of its excessive budget. Disney CEO Bob Iger pulled the emergency brake in 2011 to curb costs. Johnny Depp, his Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski and others gave up part of their fees, as Variety reported at the time.
However, the reduced budget skyrocketed again during filming as the production was hit by storms, wildfires and an outbreak of chickenpox among the crew. In the end The budget was around 225 to 250 million dollars. This made Lone Ranger the most expensive Western film of all time, even taking inflation into account.
The new Pirates of the Caribbean became a mega-flop
A considerable risk when you consider that the Western genre is anything but a reliable box office guarantee and that the character of the Lone Ranger enjoys little awareness among younger people or outside the USA.
The counterargument: The pirate film was also considered a flop guarantee before Pirates of the Caribbean. So who better to rejuvenate the Western than the Pirates of the Caribbean team Johnny Depp (star), Gore Verbinski (director), Jerry Bruckheimer (producer), Terry Rossio and Ted Elliott (screenplay)?
The comparison to Pirates of the Caribbean was already flawed in the reviews. In contrast to the pirate adventure, the Western washed away from US criticism (It only has a measly 31 percent on Rotten Tomatoes). The franchise dreams were finally buried at the box office.
The numbers for the Lone Ranger flop:
This made Lone Ranger one of the biggest financial failures in Hollywood history and the most expensive Western flop ever. Also an achievement considering that in this category it competes with Heaven’s Gate, which drove a studio into bankruptcy.
If you’re curious now, you can catch up on Lone Ranger on Disney+.
A similar article appeared on our Spanish sister site Espinof.