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Shocker! Disney Halts Johnny Depp's 'The Lone Ranger'

EXCLUSIVE: In a stunning development, Disney has shut down production on The Lone Ranger, the Gore Verbinski-directed film that was to star Johnny Depp as Tonto and Armie Hammer as the title character. Jerry Bruckheimer is the producer. I'm told this all just happened, and Disney pulled the plug because the budget, which I've heard the filmmakers were trying to reduce from $250, wasn't close to the $200 million that Disney wanted to spend. Disney has several big films in production. John Carter has a budget that has ballooned to north of $300 million because of extensive re-shoots [a studio insider said the number is lower], and The Great and Powerful Oz, the James Franco-starrer has a budget is hovering at $200 million. Lone Ranger wasn't starting production until October, and and even though money has been spent as the picture is in preproduction (Depp is likely pay or play), but it was the easiest one on which to apply the brakes. The shoot was set for New Mexico. Between Depp, Bruckheimer and Verbinski, the gross outlay on the film is substantial.

This is stunning because Bruckheimer is the long time cornerstone producer on the Disney lot and because Depp has starred in the studio's all time biggest films, including Alice in Wonderland and the Pirates of the Caribbean films. Deep and Verbinski teamed for three of those pictures., grossing billions of dollars for the studio. Verbinski most recently directed Rango, the Paramount film that is a front runner for Best Animated Film Oscar.

The film was scheduled to be released December 21, 2012, smack up against The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, which opens December 14, and the Brad Pitt-starrer World War Z, which was just slated for December 21. It's unclear whether that factored into the decision. The studio and filmmakers are trying to figure out the next step, which would either be to shop it elsewhere or put it back together at a later date at a lower budget. Calls to Disney were not returned.

This is shocking because of the participants involved, but it certainly is happening with more regularity in Hollywood. Universal recently halted production on a version of At the Mountains of Madness that Guillermo del Toro was going to direct with Tom Cruise starring, and it also halted an adaptation of Stephen King's The Dark Tower that Ron Howard, Brian Grazer and Akiva Goldsman that would have encompassed three movies and two limited run TV series. And just this week, DreamWorks halted Southpaw, a boxing drama that has Eminem set to star in his first role since 2002's 8 Mile, with Antoine Fuqua directing. While the latter project was a small budget risk by comparison, all of these other films were big bets. Studios are making them more shrewdly, even if it means bruised feelings from stars, directors and producers accustomed to having it their way.