‘The Lone Ranger’ trampled at box office by ‘Despicable’ minions

Judging from last weekend’s showing at the box office, the Lone Ranger may be heading for the last roundup while the zany, slapstick minions in “Despicable Me 2” are showing as much movie star magnetism as, say, Johnny Depp.

The minions and their movie raked in $142.1 million over the extended July 4thweekend while “The Lone Ranger,” with Depp starring as Tonto, came up lame at $48.9 million. That leaves Walt Disney Studios a long way from recouping the $225 million invested in the remake of the venerable masked man story.

The team of producer Jerry Bruckheimer, director Gore Verbinski and mega-star Depp resurrected the pirate genre in a huge way with their “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise. Apparently, they have not done the same for westerns. In fact, the Lone Ranger character – much beloved by older generations of radio and TV fans – may be permanently buried by this box office bomb.

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If so, that would be sad. As a little boy, I was enthralled by the Lone Ranger TV series and all its cool details – the silver bullets, the horse named Silver, the William Tell Overture, the recurring closing line, “Who was that masked man?” This was back in the early “Mad Men” era when most TVs were black and white and undependable. I remember my huge frustration one Saturday morning when a version of the Lone Ranger’s origin story was broadcast. I wanted to see the hero’s face without the mask, but all I saw was salt-and-pepper snow on a rolling TV screen.

Seeking an audience beyond nostalgic Baby Boomers like me, Verbinski tried to give “The Lone Ranger” the blockbuster treatment. Somehow, though, westerns seem resistant to the magic of special effects and huge exploding machinery. The Old West is not outer space and unless a director wants to go all the way and do something weird like “Cowboys and Aliens,” it is probably wiser to keep the budget low and the setting traditional. All that’s needed for a solid western, after all, is a few horses, a good script and a nice expanse of New Mexico or Alberta. Just ask Clint Eastwood, who took the best picture and best actor Oscars for “Unforgiven” in 1993. Made for $14 million, the film took in nearly $160 million.

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If a filmmaker wants to go big with a western, it’s probably best to go epic, not cosmic. Kevin Costner’s “Dances With Wolves” won seven Academy Awards, including best picture, and took in $184 million in the U.S., more than any other western. The 1990 movie cost $18 million to make.

From “Silverado” to “Appaloosa” to “Brokeback Mountain,” modern directors have shown westerns can be done well and done with originality. The pitfalls get bigger when the intent is too obviously to create an instant franchise with strong appeal to 14-year-old boys. Besides big bucks, that requires quite a bit more luck – and maybe a gaggle of giggling minions.

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