Remember our outlandish list of mystery mash-ups? Did we forget to put the Lone Ranger versus Werewolves on there?
Deadline reports that the Walt Disney live-action production of The Lone Ranger was cancelled and production halted due to a ballooning budget that already exceeded the $200 million that Disney expected to spend. The movie was being directed by Gore Verbinksi, who also directed the reptile-western Rango, and was set to rejoin the director with star Johnny Depp as Tonto and Armie Hammer as the Ranger.
The more…interesting news comes from Geek Tyrant, who reports that the reason for the swelling budget is primarily due to the cost of CGI. You can understand it with an animated chameleon, but why would the Lone Ranger need so much CGI, you ask? For the werewolves, of course! One reported version of the movie script was Tonto-centric (why waste the Depp?) and focused on the Ranger tracking a shape-shifting, skin-walking, murderous man-wolf beast. So maybe this news isn’t so horrible after all, at least not for ardent fans of the original show?
