10 Box Office Flops That Threw Away Stupid Amounts Of Money
3. The Lone Ranger - $119.7 million
Budget: $250 million Box Office: $260 million
Although The Fifth Estate,the Benedict Cumberbatch-helmed story of Wikileaks,was the least profitable film of 2013 by percentages, at the base line The Lone Ranger comes out on top. Gore Verbinskis rejuvenation of the radio series none of the target audience was old enough to remember wound up losing Disney $100 million, which came as a surprise to no one.
Westerns are a tricky genre nowadays. You need a strong director, gritty realism and a focus. The Lone Ranger had none of those, but what buried it was the press. Taking over five years to make it to the screen it defined a troubled production and the press were quick to label it a flop well before release. In fact, the film arrived in some international territories with the big loss as the only selling point. Slap that on the poster.
Disney, you can imagine, were a bit upset their western wasnt a new Pirates Of The Caribbean, but dont expect this to have a massive impact on the Mouse House; they were also behind Iron Man 3, the years biggest hit.
Did it deserve to flop? Actually no. The Lone Ranger wasnt the train wreck of quality Verbinskis overblown Pirates sequels led us to believe. It was long (what isnt) and used Johnny Depp doing a silly voice too much, but was an average film in a summer of poor ones.