The Antipodean

Weekend estimates from Box Office Mojo:

1 N Despicable Me 2 $82,518,000 $142,076,000 total since opening
2 N The Lone Ranger $29,432,000 $48,936,000
3 2 The Heat $25,000,000 -36.1% 86,398,000
4 1 Monsters University $19,590,000 -57.0% $216,127,000
5 3 World War Z $18,200,000 -38.9% $158,758,000
6 4 White House Down $13,500,000 -45.7% 50,478,000
7 5 Man of Steel $11,415,000 -45.0% $271,206,000
8 N Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain$10,100,000 $17,460,000
9 6 This is the End $5,800,000 -33.3% $85,554,000
10 7 Now You See Me $2,770,000 -50.6% $110,415,000

Sounds like Lone Ranger's already going down as a legendary kind of flop rather than a mere stumble... Despite all that it was a record weekend. Shocked at how much DM2 made even for a kid's movie....

Deadline
New York Times
Entertainment Weekly

EdTheRipper

Not surprised Lone Ranger isn't doing well. It looked like a Pirates rehash to me.

Mr. Cinema

Man of Steel's worldwide total is now $586.8 million. I think it'll finish a shade over $300 mil US and at least $700 mil worldwide.

Great hold for World War Z, which should be able to reach $200 mil US. Its worldwide total is now $366.1 mil.

islandclaws

Disney should've stuck to their guns and pulled the plug for good after temporarily halting pre-production. What a waste of an obscene amount of money.

Throwing Copper

Good to see "This Is The End" staying strong. It has legs at $85 million. I think it will squeak past $100 million ultimately.

With that film and "The Heat" doing well. I'm sure will continue to get some good R-rated comedies greenlit.

JumpCutz

The Lone Ranger is a monumental flop. Love it!

inri222

Between the budget and the marketing costs it would have to make $800,000,000 just to break even and I don't see that happening.
Yeah I'm also lovin' it. I hope it will send a message like Heaven's Gate did 33 years ago.

TGM

I don't take pleasure when a movie "flops", but damn, who greenlit this fucking thing? The Lone Ranger is an antiquated goodie twoshoes character from a bygone era. Anyone with half a brain would see this movie being a flop.

Super X

Yeah, I'm not celebrating that it's a flop, but I can honestly say that I'm not surprised. Pretty much for the same reason you've stated. That was a hell of a lot of money to put into a western in this day and age.

ken_572002

Right, and a western that had a sidekick character that is no longer politically correct. The Lone Ranger was a product of it's time, but would never translate to the 21th century. What was Disney thinking here...?

resinrats

Randal: Tonto...we're taking him back!


Sucks that Lone Ranger flopping will more or less kill any future westerns. Really sucks that an entire genre of film dies off. Don't see why one couldn't be a hit. Other period pieces do well.

Artman

Taken to the woodshed! While it's unfortunate that so much work (probably great craftsmanship and vfx) went to waste, the blame goes entirely to those on top who greenlit this thing. Big embarrassment for Depp and Bruckheimer. Now they really do need Pirates 5 to make up for this one, but they probably hurt that film's chances as well... it's only two short years away, which already feels too soon.

RocShemp

The sad thing is that The Lone Ranger could have been done as straight Western, without a huge budget, and casting someone like Wes Studi as Tonto re-imagined as a mentor to the Lone Ranger (whthout the nonsense of "let's make the sidekick the hero and the hero the sidekick," which has already been done before with the likes of Sherlock Holmes back in 1988). This didn't need to be a "summer" movie but rather simply another solid Western.

Even if this movie had turned out to be amazing, a Western shouldn't be so expensive.

Matthew Chmiel

The Long Ranger has done $50 million in five days which isn't bad if the film would've cost a third of its production budget.

It'll be interesting to see how it does internationally. Depp is a huge draw overseas (the last Pirates sequel did 3.5x more abroad than in domestically), but international audiences don't care for westerns.

It's a shame Armie Hammer isn't pulling in the crowds.

chris_santucci

Good point! But didn't some posit the same argument for Superman?

I think "Lone Ranger" could have succeeded, but the marketing tried to shape a legitimate action Western into a sardonic comedy. Too many ingredients in the crockpot. Plus, Johnny Depp as a NATIVE AMERICAN!?!

The Valeyard

I'm disappointed Tonto didn't break the Lone Ranger's neck at the end.

Supermallet

Between this and John Carter Disney must be in a tailspin right now.

Jaymole

I wouldn't be surprised if Disney is now working on a live action version of Li'l Abner for the screen.

Rypro 525

I checked box office mojo and even Django Unchained (technicall a western) even made more in its first 3 day weekend http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?pag...ounchained.htm

Mattflix

Westerns just don't work as blockbusters. See Cowboys & Aliens, Wild Wild West as proof. The genre has become a niche, it's for film buffs or for people who are old enough to remember them.

The best shot The Lone Ranger would have had, if any, would have been to be a smaller production, released around March. It could have still been fun, but it never had a bigger chance than that.

PhantomStranger

This, absolutely this. Disney's hubris and entire conception for the project was flawed from the start. The Lone Ranger is still a workable concept, but it had to have come in at a lower budget and with a different cast.

Ash Ketchum

With Taylor Kitsch as Abner and Megan Fox as...well maybe not Daisy, but someone.

orangecrush

I'm surprised that the Kevin Hart stand up movie is making that much. I knew the guy was popular, but that is a really big number for a stand up movie.

Giles

Deftones

monsters university