'The Lone Ranger' Bombing at the Box Office

According to early reports, Disney's The Lone Ranger has taken in just $19.5 million in two days at the domestic box office with 5-day estimates for the holiday weekend ranging from $50-55 million overall.  For a film that cost $215 million to make (though I've read it was was more like $250 million), that is absolutely terrible.

Honestly though, should this really be a surprise?

Take away all the production troubles this project went through - from being put on hold to lower its budget to then going over-budget anyway because of production issues - this film just never grabbed anyone's attention.

Of all the movies coming out this summer, I really don't think you could find a single person who had The Lone Ranger at the top of their must-see list.

Sure, Johnny Depp is a great actor, but I'm pretty sure that fire he ignited in his career over a decade ago with Pirates of the Caribbean is fading.  He's just not as popular as he use to be with casual moviegoers.  That has nothing to do with his films nor his personal life, it's just after a while, people lose interest.

The one I feel bad for though is Armie Hammer.  I saw him on The Tonight Show and he genuinely seems like a great dude - and from all accounts - a fantastic actor.  I only hope Hollywood gives this guy another chance to become a star because he really seems to have that IT quality (unlike say, Ryan Reynolds, who keep getting chance after chance.  Seriously, how bad does R.I.P.D. look?).

Who knows, maybe The Lone Ranger can find an audience and somehow get to say $150 million domestically, backed by big overseas numbers (Depp is a huge draw internationally) and not be such a disappointment (from what I've read, it's not as bad as critics make it out to be, which really shouldn't come as a surprise).

As of now though, the movie is a absolute bomb, in every sense of the word.

Source: Box Office Mojo