Disney has flipped the switch, and the Johnny Depp Lone Ranger film is back on for production.

This past August Disney shut down production on the upcoming Lone Ranger film due to spiraling production costs that had the movie looking like it would cost between $250 and $275 million to produce.  The company approched director Gore Verbinksi about lowering the cost, but he was only able to get it down to $232 million.  Considering the high profile flop of Cowboys & Aliens this summer, obviously a studio would be nervous about putting a lot of money into a western.

Production was halted and there was no indication if things would resume.

According to Deadline, Disney has flipped the switch back to green for the film to start filming on February 6, 2012 in New Mexico due to the budget having fallen further to $215 million.  (I still don’t understand how you can spend that much on a western, but oh well.)  There’s no word on if all of the cast is still in place, but the most recent plans call for Depp to play Tonto with Armie Hammer as the Lone Ranger and Ruth Wilson, Dwight Yoakam, Helena Bonham Carter, James Badge Dale and Barry Pepper in various other roles.

It’ll be interesting to see how this turns out, and we’ll see see if it can even come close to making a profit.

Disney has halted production on the upcoming Lone Ranger film that was due to start filming this fall with Johnny Depp in the role of Tonto.

Slated for release December 21, 2012, the new Lone Ranger film was due to tell the story of the character from the vantage point of Tonto, hence why Johnny Depp had been cast in the role.  The film has already signed Armie Hammer as the Lone Ranger and Ruth Wilson, Dwight Yoakam, Helena Bonham Carter, James Badge Dale and Barry Pepper in various other roles.  (Depp and Carter in a film not directed by Tim Burton … is that allowed?)  Gore Verbinksi was to helm the film, and is best known for directing the first three Pirates of the Caribbean films, all of which starred Depp and made a tremendous amount of money for Disney.

It seems the production was halted due to ballooning production costs which had hit $250 million.  Verbinksi had gotten it down to $232 million, but Disney is looking to spend around $200 million due to the number of other expensive productions has on its plate currently.

$250 million for what is essentially a cowboy movie?  Heck, even the $200 million Disney is looking to spend, how in the world do you hit those numbers on a film that is essentially a bunch of people on horses?  Verbinksi is known for his huge budgets with the third Pirates film, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, clocked in at $300 million.  I think that perhaps this is a director that need to go take some sort of class on learning how to manage his finances because the budgets he is turning in are just outlandish.  You can somewhat understand them on the three Pirate films because any time you involve water in a film the budget shoots way up, but, again, this is a movie set in the Old West … on horses … all on dry land.  How is he spending this much money?  Oh, I know, the Lone Ranger is famous for his silver bullets, Verbinksi must have gone for “realism” and ordered them cast in real silver.  Silly me.

Apparently Disney will be going forward with this movie, but only once the budget has been brought down into a range they find acceptable.  There is no word on how long that may take, nor what it may due to the targeted release date as of yet.

Are you ready for another outing with Captain Jack Sparrow?

Disney is currently hosting its first ever official convention in Anaheim, CA, the D23 convention. 5,000 lucky fans were surprised today by Johnny Depp being wheeled out on stage in full Jack sparrow costume, riding upon a replica of the Black Pearl. According to the Los Angeles Times, Mr. Depp stayed in character the entire time, and made jokes about eating Kermit the Frog, who had been on stage earlier, and how he imagines that he “tastes of chicken.”

The whole reason for his appearance was to announce that the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean film not only has a title now, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, but a release date which has been set for summer 2011.

According to The Geek Files, the title may give away the plot as there was a pirate story called On Stranger Tides that Disney bought the rights to.  The story deals with pirates arriving in the newly founded New Orleans and then looking for the legendary Fountain of Youth.  Rumors had been that the fourth movie would deal with Sparrow and Barbosa (Geoffrey Rush) following a similar story, so it looks like we know the plot.

Sadly, Gore Verbinksi, whom directed the first three films has been replaced by Rob Marshall.  I am not overly familiar with Mr. Marshall’s work, but hopefully he won’t change the over all look of the series that much, but I’m willing to give him a fair shake.

So, what say you, are you ready for another adventure with Jack Sparrow?