Disney shuts down production of ‘Lone Ranger’

Walt Disney Studios has shut down production of “The Lone Ranger,” a big-budget film starring Johnny Depp as Tonto and Armie Hammer as the title character, a person close to the production confirmed.

Depp has been the studio’s most bankable star in recent years, anchoring two films that reaped more than a billion dollars in worldwide box office -- this summer’s “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” and the 2010 film “Alice in Wonderland.”

Work on the modern retelling of the popular 1949 television western was halted amid budgetary concerns. Deadline Hollywood, which broke the news, reported that filmmakers were attempting to reduce the $250 million budget but had yet to reach the $200-million figure Disney wants to spend. COMPANY TOWN