Disney's Failed Next Big Thing: The Lone Ranger

In the early 2010's Disney tried to recapture the magic of Pirates of the Caribbean by pumping out big budget blockbusters that went on to bomb at the box office. 2013's The Lone Ranger is a perfect example of this. In this video essay I examine what exactly went wrong, and offer some of my thoughts on the film.

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Creative Commons — Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported — CC BY-ND 3.0
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[fusetunes]

it’s really funny to me that this movie got a huge disney infinity playset and world and frozen just got two figures who didn’t even reflect the final designs of the characters. it’s a really good example of this phenomenon

[Shockwave-obtx]

The biggest flaw was that the movie didn't know what it wanted to be. It was trying to be gritty, comedy, drama, adventure, all rolled into one. I lt was all over the place.

[NTMonsty]

You know that a film is in trouble when it needs to gross *800, 000, 000 Dollars* just to break even.

I think the rest of Hollywood learned that the hard way just last year.

[robvegas]

The lone ranger could have been a really tight fun 100 minute film.

[BugsyFoga]

It’s fascinating to think in the span of two years Gore Verbinski directed two bizarre westerns that star Johnny depp and composed by Han Zimmer.

[jello]

When Tarantino thinks your violent scenes are out of place and offensive, you really need to re-evaluate yourself

[jonahfalcon]

Answer: they wanted to turn The Lone Ranger into Pirates of the Caribbean in the West.

[Mr.HLLYWD]

This movie helped me get over my ex when it came out. My mom asked me if wanted to go cause i was all depressed. movie was long and boring i was able to zone out and reflect on my relationship i had lost while at the theater😂😂😂

[jhmoxl]

its fascinating because the Green Hornet reboot made the same mistake with the Hornet by making him the totally incompetent comic relief character who grows a bit in the third act, and it also failed yet they made the same mistake here. I think the whole thing there showed they didn't really like the source material and the making Tonto the hero then casting a white guy to play him was one of those bizarre decisions that was going to please no one. Cast an American Indian actor and make both he and the Lone Ranger competent and heroic but with different strengths and flaws that need each other and you have a good movie. And for god sakes don't spend more than 100 million on a Western!

[luigiboyinblu]

The Lone Ranger was everything Rango directly opposed to as a movie

[Sacromento]

The Lone Ranger Lego sets were the best

[nooctip]

Lone Ranger films do seem cursed to almost be good, but not quite making it. The trouble here was they based the Lone Ranger on Seths Green Hornet, made Tonto the comic relief, and made too long a movie.

[ilfordx]

You know you fucked up when you have Quentin Tarantino saying the movie was gratuitous violently for him

[JoeChillton]

Ya know what's funny, cannibalism happened in this film and not to the alleged cannibal himself

[michaelmayo]

A couple of things more.

You didn't mention one of the reasons the budget ballooned was the original story involved a werewolf that stayed in the movie until Dizzy pulled the plug and had them retool it, costing them millions.

Another reason, I think, is the misguided attempt at pathos with the opening and closing bookends of Depp as old Tonto telling the movie in flashback to a kid before wandering off into the sunset at the end.

This movie had no idea of what it wanted to be, so piled cliches, set pieces, and bad jokes before mercifully ending. It was doomed from the start.

[bltvd]

I got to work 30 days as a extra on this movie in New Mexico as a railroad worker. It was a blast. Great food and constant weed smoking.

[giansaccount]

I really appreciate Disney's effort, though. They were attempts at new stories, unlike the current focus on remakes.

[PierceTreacher-fo]

Well if you wanna watch a Western made by Gore Verbinski, watch Rango. That film deserved to start a franchise, but Paramount did nothing with it. I say that as the world's biggest fan of Rango.

[swaty_forte]

Maybe I am beating a dead horse with this, but the film's score is very well written.

[MechaOracle]

A high budget western could work. The biggest problem is that they keep trying to make them as a stereotypical western and expecting people who don't like stereotypical westerns to like these movies.

Or they just get incredibly weird with them (Wild Wild West, Cowboys v Aliens, etc...)

This isn't like RDR2 where a person is playing a cowboy, this is people sitting still for however long watching someone else play a cowboy.

You have to give audiences something more than just "western" for the genre to work in a high budget. Not only is the myth of cowboys more readily known now days, but a vast majority of successful movies of any genre do this sort of thing.