Heigh Ho Silver, away! Ride like the wind to Dec., 21 2012, which is when Walt Disney intends to open Jerry Bruckheimer’s big-budget reboot of The Lone Ranger.
Armie Hammer, last seen playing twins in David Fincher’s The Social Network, saddles up alongside Johnny Depp’s Tonto for director Gore Verbinski’s production, which, according to the Hollywood Reporter, takes place in 1869 and focuses on a Texas Ranger who fights Western criminals with the aid of his trusty Indian sidekick. Verbinski, of course, directed the first three Pirates of the Caribbean films with Depp in tow. Earlier this year, the duo teamed for the animated Rango, a box-office smash that has taken in $241 million worldwide to date.
But Verbinski’s Lone Ranger will face some stiff competition during that holiday season. Peter Jackson’s first installment of a two-part Hobbit adaptation hits theaters a week prior on Dec. 14. Meanwhile, Ang Lee’s Life of Pi adaptation recently moved to Dec. 21 to avoid Jackson’s epic, but now will face Ranger, Relativity’s Hunter-Killer and an as-yet-untitled Judd Apatow comedy. The Ranger may need a lot more than his usual sidekick and six-shooter to beat out all that competition.
