The Lone Ranger budget has been trimmed, but will Disney bite?

Last month, Disney pulled the plug on Gore Verbinski‘s $250 million adaptation of the classic TV serial The Lone Ranger, which was set to star Armie Hammer as the title character and Johnny Depp as his sidekick Tonto. 

Verbinski and co. have spent the past two weeks looking for ways to trim the budget until it reached a more suitable price tag. Deadline now reports producer Jerry Bruckheimer and Verbinski have presented Disney with a new budget “in the $215m range”.

Although $215 million is hardly a steal, it is a price that Disney are willing to consider.

There were rumours that Disney chairman Rich Ross wanted to continue the project without Verbinski, but Depp has reiterated he will only make the film with Gore. They have previously collaborated on three Pirates of the Caribbean movies and the animated flick Rango.

We now play the waiting game, to see if Disney take the bait.

Discuss: Wondering what was snipped from the budget? We suspect/hope the CGI werewolves…