"The Lone Ranger" seems to be riding into the sunset on its debut weekend. The Disney Western starring Armie Hammer as the titular character and Johnny Depp as Tonto was outpaced 3 to 1 by Universal's "Despicable Me 2," which also opened Wednesday. The animated sequel collected $59.9 million in ticket sales so far, while "The Lone Ranger" earned a paltry $19.5 million. While Disney is likely to recover based on its other strong offerings this summer, including Pixar's "Monsters University" and Marvel's "Iron Man 3," the masked man's dismal box-office showing may spell trouble for Depp and all but ends any hope for a Lone Ranger franchise. "This is one and done," said Stuart Oldham, editor of the industry trade site Variety.com. "You're not going to see another Lone Ranger movie after this." It's a "big disappointment" for Disney, said media and entertainment analyst Martin Pyykkonen of Wedge Partners. Although the film had been set up for a sequel, "it's obviously not even going to come close to covering the production costs," the analyst said. Years in the making, "Lone Ranger" filming was shut down for weeks in 2011 because of soaring costs that still ended up in the $250-million range. Read more http://www.ottawacitizen.com/entert...Lone Ranger holiday office/8623563/story.html
