Hollywood faces tremendous pressure to produce box-office successes. And there are more risks than ever when an acclaimed actor like Johnny Depp is the center of attention. But in the chaos that surrounded The Lone Ranger’s release, the Jeanne du Barry actor insisted that the media’s relentless criticism was a major factor in the movie’s failure, rather than taking responsibility for it.
Despite The Lone Ranger’s poor box office performance, Depp insisted that neither the quality of the film nor his performance were solely to blame. It may seem like a desperate justification, but the actor claimed that the $260.5 million film has been unfairly ‘targeted’ by the media. But, in contrast to his prior successes, the actor, along with Mark Wahlberg, brought up an interesting point regarding the level of media scrutiny surrounding such films.
Also Read: Major Johnny Depp Movie Surprised Critics by Grossing Over $1 Billion Despite Many Flaws
Johnny Depp Has an Excuse For The Lone Ranger’s Failure
The story of The Lone Ranger, directed by Gore Verbinski and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, focused on John Reid (Armie Hammer), a masked hero out to right wrongs, and his sidekick Tonto, played by Johnny Depp. The Jeanne du Barry star felt that reviews had a partial share of the blame for the movie’s downfall, which was distributed by Walt Disney Studios. He informed the LA Times:
“I think the reviews were probably written when they heard that Gore and Jerry and I were going to do ‘The Lone Ranger’. I think that Gore made a very brave film.”
Even Mark Wahlberg blamed the failures on the studios, who claimed that they had focused too much on marketing and not enough on differentiating their film stories.
“First and foremost, the media is targeting all these movies. There’s intense scrutiny on us, way more than before. They are spending so much money to pull the wool over the audience’s eyes with these effects-driven movies..”
Variety claimed that despite an estimated $225–250 million production budget and an additional $150 million in marketing expenses, The Lone Ranger earned only $260.5 million worldwide and was largely panned by critics. This makes it one of the biggest box office bombs ever, costing Disney over $160–190 million.
He Also Attributed The Lone Ranger’s Downfall To Negative Reviews
Producer Jerry Bruckheimer of Disney’s The Lone Ranger, along with actors Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer, took to Variety to voice their opinions, accusing the press of ruining the 2013 flick with negative assessments. Depp gave Variety an explanation, saying,
“I think the reviews were written seven to eight months before we released the film. I think the reviews were written when they heard Gore [Verbinski] and Jerry [Bruckheimer] and me were going to do The Lone Ranger. They had expectations that it must be a blockbuster. I didn’t have any expectations of that. I never do.”
Hammer continued, saying in the meantime:
“This is the deal with American critics: they’ve been gunning for our movie since it was shut down the first time. That’s when most of the critics wrote their initial reviews. They tried to do the same thing with to World War Z, it didn’t work, the movie was successful. Instead they decided to slit the jugular of our movie.”
After taking into consideration revenue splits with theater owners, The New York Times estimated that the film would need to make an estimated $650 million worldwide to break even on its $375 million production and marketing costs. Despite this, it was nominated for two Academy Awards (86th): Best Visual Effects and Best Makeup and Hairstyling.
William Fichtner, Barry Pepper, Ruth Wilson, James Badge Dale, Tom Wilkinson, Helena Bonham Carter, and Curtis Cregan were cast in supporting roles. Well, movies are meant to be enjoyed, regardless of critics’ opinions or film pundits, and Depp’s The Lone Ranger offers plenty of opportunities to do so despite its many shortcomings.
The Lone Ranger is available to watch on Disney+.
