Man, Disney sures likes to throw cash away lately. It’s been a rough couple of years for the house of mouse, with their big budget extravaganza films failing to find the financial magic that the Pirates of the Caribbean film series has brought them so far. John Carter of Mars was a massive, undeserved flop for the studio last year that cost them $200 million in losses.
And now, The Lone Ranger is saddling up to be their disasterpiece of the year.
During filming, The Lone Ranger had a massive proposed budget of around $250 million, a figure that promptly made Disney spit its tea all over the faces of director Gore Verbinksi and Jerry Bruckheimer. Trimming that figure down to a still massive $215 million, the film hasn’t opened up to the best possible time exactly.
Facing stiff competition from Despicable Me 2 over the fourth of July long weekend, the film didn’t even break the $50 million mark. Hell, it barely beat back box office bomb Wild Wild West,a movie that opened up 14 years ago with a $41 million take.
Right now, experts over at THR estimate that the Lone Ranger will most likely pull in $175 million in the North American domestic market, while internationally it’ll probably hit the $150 million mark. And those numbers sound reasonable, as the film has only managed to make $73 million in those combined markets. That’s an estimated final total of $325 million, for a movie that isn’t exactly earning rave reviews either, a film that has been described as the epitome of bloated Hollywood blockbuster high budget attempts. And quite frankly, a cowboy movie of this magnitude failing in the home of the wild west does not bode well for other markets.
While $325 million may still sound like a decent amount for a movie that cost $215 million to make, when you take into consideration all the advertsing and promotional stunts that Disney pulled out for the film, there’s still a loss being made here, to the tune of around $150 million. But there’s a silver lining to this catastrophe of a film. Johnny Depp earned over $20 million for putting a dead bird on his head as Tonto, but Disney will more than likely be less willing to pay for his exorbitant “star power” in the future, while poridcuer Jerry Bruckheimer could also be seeing less greenbacks in his career.
And at least Monsters University and Iron Man 3 have saved Disney from a particularly dangerous year for high budget flicks.
Last Updated: July 9, 2013
Trevor Davies
July 9, 2013 at 12:00
I loved The Lone Ranger as a kid, and have a real fondness for Westerns, but this movie just never looked right from the beginning.
RinceWind
July 9, 2013 at 12:03
Agreed. Depp with white face paint, AGAIN?
HvR
July 9, 2013 at 12:09
I’m not sure if we need to blame Depp or Bruckheimer.
RinceWind
July 9, 2013 at 12:10
I’m just tired of him always in white facepaint, he needs to shake it up, like, maybe green face paint 😛
Trevor Davies
July 9, 2013 at 12:20
Like Jim Carey in The Mask? 😀
RinceWind
July 9, 2013 at 12:42
Good point, green is SO last season. And it is a Carey thing l,what with the Grinch *shudders
Andre116
July 9, 2013 at 13:31
That wasn’t face paint. It was the coke he burrowed his head into before each scene.
Unavengedavo
July 9, 2013 at 16:52
They would just use fancy CGI to make it white again :/
Kromas
July 9, 2013 at 12:22
I put the blame squarely on Disney. Oh look, we made a massive amount of cash with Pirates. Lets put Depp in a western. He is not even supposed to be the lead character but he has the most screen time. Also the actual story made me fall asleep. Only Titanic ever did that. ‘Nuff said.
RinceWind
July 9, 2013 at 12:03
How the hell do they spend that much? I get that CGI is used in many things, but are the stuntmen now charging Depp wages?
Trevor Davies
July 9, 2013 at 12:09
I guess coke prices have gone up because of recent big drug busts.
Andre116
July 9, 2013 at 13:29
Is that why his face was white all the time?
HvR
July 9, 2013 at 12:10
I heard that the crow is the THE crow The Crow movies so he comes at premium.
RinceWind
July 9, 2013 at 12:12
eh? 0-O
Trevor Davies
July 9, 2013 at 12:27
I heard he was very demanding on set, had to have all the shiny beads, only wanted premium newspaper in his cage. Total drama queen. 😀
Gustav Minnie
July 9, 2013 at 13:32
Simple.
If Bruckheimer wants to blow up a train/horse/M5 he wants the real deal. No hot wheels model plastic wannabe. The real thing with all the bells and whistles. That’s the Bruckheimer/Bay way.
James Francis
July 10, 2013 at 13:14
Most of movie budget tend to be crew: accommodation, catering, equipment and hourly rates. So your costs compound as you add more filming days and reshoots. A movie with many showcase stunts can be a real drain, as these require a lot of preparation – all of which is paid for by the hour. Remember that you pay for travel time as well, which is one reason why water-based shoots are costly, since your crew can’t just leave. Designers and any other artists involved in the concept stage also charge by the hour. I recall the guy who did a lot of the design for Blade Runner made tons of money because he had a steep hourly rate and was in high demand as well.
In the end, actors and such tend to be the least of a film’s budget.