Disney is getting ready to take a $190 million hit on The Lone Ranger. The film bombed with both critics and audiences and obviously, someone has to pay. That someone looks like it may be producer extraordinaire Jerry Bruckheimer, who may lose his final cut right on the upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean 5.
According to The Wrap, the mouse house wants to lower the budget of the upcoming sure-to-be mess that is Pirates of the Caribbean 5 and they also want to take away final cut from Bruckheimer. He may not be the director the film but he’s been producer on the series since the start and in his current contract, he has the final cut rights.
For those not in the know with how Hollywood works, final cut means that the director, or in this case, the producer, has final say over how the film is edited for release. If the director/producer doesn’t have final cut rights, then the studio can make changes to the film and release it how they want.
Disney wants to slash the budget on the upcoming Pirates film from $250 million to $200 million and they also want more control over how the film turns out, which is why they want final cut. And really, can you blame them?
Looking at the studio’s track record, they tend to let their projects blow up and their directors to go a bit overboard. Gore Verbinski went way over budget on The Lone Ranger and created quite a messy production for the film. Then there was John Carter, which the studio lost an enormous amount of money on thanks to the film’s absolutely ridiculous budget, which with marketing and all, was close to $250 million.
Even just by looking at the Pirates series, you can see examples of how the mouse house loses control. The last couple films had ridiculously long runtimes and At World’s End cost $300 million.
So again, I don’t blame Disney at all for tightening the ropes, especially after Bruckheimer and Depp botched up The Lone Ranger, which really was just a truly awful film. I wouldn’t act any differently than the studio is acting here and personally, after seeing the last few efforts from Disney, Depp and Bruckheimer, I can’t say I’m particularly excited for Pirates of the Caribbean 5.
