They may have made billions with the Pirates Of the Caribbean franchise, despite the fact conventional wisdom said pirates were box office poison, but Disney is still reluctant to let producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Gore Verbinski loose with an equally unpredictable genre, the Western. At the weekend we reported that Disney had cancelled the project, due to the fact the filmmakers said they couldn’t make it for less than $250 million, and the studio wanted to shoot it for considerably less than that.
At the time we noted this may have been a ploy by the House Of Mouse to try and force Verbinski’s hand into cutting some of the more expensive excesses of the movie. That seems to have been the case, as THR now reports the movie has been given a week’s reprieve while Verbinski and Bruckheimer try to get the budget from $250 million to around $210-$220 million.
You wouldn’t have thought that would have been too tough, as many have been wondering why a western would need to ost so much anyway. The reason is because of the vast action set-pieces and effects heavy supernatral bits being brought in. The latest script is said to involve lots of Native American mythology and the appearance of a hoard of werewolves and other Native American folklore creatures.
To save money, these have now been dropped, which seems reasonable enough. There were also several major sequences involving trains planned, including one described as the biggest train sequence in film history. These may now need to be cut down. Finally Bruckheimer and Verbinski are trying to save money from their own pay, chopping $10 million from what Disney would have had to shell out for them.
It’s perhaps not surprising Disney is being tough on Verbinski, as they apparently had a fractious relationship on the Pirates Of The Caribbean sequels, due to the fact those films’ budgets kept mushrooming until the third one cost over $300 million. Even at $250 million, The Lone Ranger would need to make around $800 million at the box office to break even – which is a tough ask for a non-sequel, even if Johnny Depp is onboard. The failure of Cowboys & Aliens has made Disney even more skittish, as has the fact they already have $300 million invested in John Carter, a period sci-fi movie that many see as a rather risky proposition.
It’s a delicate balance though, as if the two sides can’t come to terms in the next few days, Verbinski will likely drop out, which would then risk not only Johnny Depp’s involvement in any future incarnation of the Lone Ranger, but also whether he’d want to sign up for a fifth Pirates movie. We’ll have to wait and see what happens.