Disney did WHAT? Apparently Disney has pulled the plug on a really big deal project. According to Deadline, The Lone Ranger that was supposed to be a tent-pole for the studio in the winter of 2012, has gone so far over the bottom line that Disney had set for it, they’ve shut it down entirely.

Johnny Depp had been signed (a long time ago waiting for this thing to get off the ground) to play Tonto and as recently as a month ago it was announced that one of the Winklevi (okay actually both them) Armie Hammer, had been chosen as the Lone Ranger himself and Ruth Wilson (“Luther”) had just been added as the female lead. Jerry Bruckheimer was producing, Gore Verbinski was directing. This is the combination that made billions for Disney with The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, which makes the decision all the more mystifying. Apparently the studio only wanted to spend $200 million, but even after slashing $20 million from the budget, the price tag was still hovering around $230 million. When you’re talking numbers like that, $20 million doesn’t seem like a lot, but then neither does the difference between $200 and $230 million. I think we’re all jaded after listening to the government bandy about numbers in the TRILLIONS so much lately.

Part of their financial apprehension comes from the cost-overruns on John Carter, due out in March. That one cost inexcess of $300 million. It had better be damn good to justify that! Pulling the plug on The Lone Ranger is just another sign that the economy has affected even one of the more robust industries we still have left.

In the meantime, there is talk of retooling The Lone Ranger and perhaps evntually rebooting the production, which had been counting on the presence of Depp to lure ticket buyers. They should probably hurry. That’s guy’s booked solid. There are 15 more titles in various stages of production with his name attached. I wouldn’t worry too much about Depp in any case. I’m sure he’s got a “pay or play” clause in his contract (which means he gets paid no matter what.) Armie might be a little too new to the game to warrant one of those, but he’s already got another high profile gig, playing the Prince to Lily Collins’ Snow White in Tarsem Singh’s Untitled Snow White Project. (I think that’s what they should call it.)