The on again off again Gore Verbinski retelling of The Lone Ranger starring Armie Hammer as The Lone Ranger, Johnny Depp as Tanto and Sarah Jessica Parker as Silver has narrowly escaped the gallows. Most everyone had given up hope the at the western could overcome the budget disputes and werewolves that seemed to plague it from the beginning, but word came down late yesterday that the movie would actually get made, just for a lot less money.

The movie will probably have to move back its December, 2012 release date now that filming won’t begin until early next year, but at least filming is actually going to begin.

So, how did they do it? Well, word is that it wasn’t pretty. There was lots of scratching and hair pulling and I guessing that at least one studio exec literally pissed in someone’s Wheaties, but they were able to get the price down from $275 million dollars to a measly $215. What a bargain!

On thing that hasn’t been announced is whether the stupid werewolf idea survived the budget cuts. If they do have werewolves, how many stupid jokes about killing them with “silver” do you think will be in the movie?

Source: Deadline