Johnny Depp (Creative Commons)

Budget talks set back production earlier this year, jeopardizing the movie's future at the studio. "The Lone Ranger" was originally set to cost $250 million, but was recently cut down to $215 million during negotiations. The dock means the film's star, Johnny Depp, producer Jerry Bruckheimer, and director Gore Verbinski will see sizable pay cuts as well. A reduction in their asking rates was enough to get the green light from Disney.

"Johnny Depp, Jerry Bruckheimer and Gore Verbinski are such a talented combination and we're thrilled to get back to work with them on 'The Lone Ranger'," a Disney spokesperson said.

The new script adds a supernatural touch to the Western (which is not surprising, given Depp's hand in the direction) and was changed a bit to reduce the cost of visual effects.

"The Lone Ranger" has a target start date of Feb. 2012. Time for IMDb to change their release date from "????" to 2013! 

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