The 4th of July holiday weekend was to be a victorious feat for The Lone Ranger, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and starring Johnny Depp, Lone Ranger has not only received poor reviews but lost this weekend’s box office to Despicable Me 2 which earned $142.1 million across the hoilday weekend, compared to Lone Ranger’s $48.9 million.
For The Lone Ranger Disney was forced to stop filming when the movie’s budget ballooned to $250 million. Production resumed in February 2012, but the studio later took heat from critics who argued that a Native American should have been cast to play Depp’s role ‘Tonto’.
The Lone Ranger was poorly received by film critics, Chicago Sun-Times critic Richard Roeper called the $250 million Western “slick trash,” while Entertainment Weekly’s Owen Gleiberman said it’s “the sort of movie that delivers too much too late and still manages to make it feel like too little.”
Filming locations spanned across six states: Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, and California. Some filming occurred specifically near Creede, Colorado, in June 2012, Moab, Utah, in July 2012, and Cimarron Canyon State Park in August 2012.
With the hit success of Despicable Me 2, a spin-off/prequel film called Minions is scheduled to be released on December 19, 2014. The prequel will be about the yellow henchmen who, before they meet Gru, compete for the right to be henchmen for Scarlet Overkill, a stylish and ambitious villain determined to dominate the world and become the first female super-villain.
If you want to get up close and personal with the Minions, you can join them on the 3-D ride, Minion Mayhem, at Universal Orlando.
Did you see either movie this weekend? Let us know which one you thought was better in the comments below!
