Disney Stops Production On Johnny Depp's 'Lone Ranger'
LOS ANGELES (CBS) — The Walt Disney Co. pulled the plug Friday on "The Lone Ranger" starring Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer.
Work on the movie was reportedly halted due to high costs and a budget of $250 million.
Studio executives hoped the budget could be reduced to about $200 million.
The director, Gore Verbinski, also clashed with Disney over costs associated with "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End."
Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger signaled in an earnings call this week that the studio would pay closer attention to movie budgets.
"It's our intention to take a very careful look at what films cost," Iger said Tuesday. "And if we can't get them to a level that we're comfortable with, we think that we're better off actually reducing the size of our slate than making films that are bigger and increasingly more risky."
