If baby boomer idols that have faded into kitsch like Mr. Ed and Perry Mason can get projects going, then by god nothing is going to stop Bruckheimer and Depp from plowing forward with their Lone Ranger extravaganza! The seemingly ill-advised project is of course alive once again, after being put on hold until its budget could be brought back down below the cost of a major NASA space mission. Now at a merely huge $215m budget for a supernatural western, Lone Ranger is gearing up and Disney has planted the flag in the sand for May 31st, 2013, a week after Fast Six. Beyond front-end paycuts for the principles and a general slimming of the production budget, it’s unclear what material in the screenplay has been modified or scrapped entirely to trim the budget, but either way it will start rolling cameras in February.

That’s not the only date announcement from Disney, as their Marvel arm has decided a certain Norse God would do better plopping out near Thanksgiving rather that amidst the summer heat. So pencil Thor 2 in on November 15, 2013.

Fox also dropped a load of new dates yesterday, with a few worth mentioning. Taken 2 is most likely to excite action fans, and it will hit theaters on October 5th of next year. Meanwhile the kids get a sequel they didn’t seem to ask for with March 27th, 2013 providing a home for the next Percy Jackson movie. Finally there’s a change in the date for Walking With Dinosaurs 3D, which now sits at October 11th, 2013 up from December of that year. That one should be a lot of fun, as the museum exhibit-meets-theater exhibition makes for a mesmerizing site just on cellphone cameras. I can only imagine what a true feature doc will be like.

Remember to mark your calendars folks!

Twitter
Comment Below
Message Boards

(via Deadline, /Film)