HI-YO SILVER! BRUCKHEIMER, DISNEY REVIVING 'LONE RANGER' (THR)

By Nancy Tartaglione-Vialatte

“The Lone Ranger” is getting a remake. Writers Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, best known for their work on the "Pirates of the Caribbean" films, are in final negotiations to write a live-action big-screen adaptation of "The Lone Ranger" for Disney and producer Jerry Bruckheimer, says The Hollywood Reporter.

The project will be made by Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer Films in association with Entertainment Rights.

"Ranger" is owned by Classic Media and began life as a 1930s radio show. Its popularity led to movie serials, TV shows, comic strips and comic books, toys, novels and more.

The hero's origin story begins with a group of Texas Rangers chasing down a gang of outlaws led by Butch Cavendish. The gang ambushes the Rangers, seemingly killing them all. One survivor is found, however, by an American Indian named Tonto, who nurses him back to health. The Ranger, donning a mask and riding a white stallion named Silver, teams up with Tonto to bring the unscrupulous gang and others of that ilk to justice, THR reminds us.

"Ranger’s" most recent shot at the big screen, 1981's "The Legend of the Lone Ranger," failed so badly that the film's star, Klinton Spilsbury, never worked in Hollywood again, notes THR. In 2003, a TV movie that served as a backdoor pilot, also bit the dust.

Rossio and Elliott, however, have experience bringing back genres that seemed passé having penned "The Mask of Zorro" as well as Disney's "Pirates" franchise, which breathed new life into the old skull and crossbones.

Bruckheimer is producing "Ranger," and Bruckheimer Films' Mike Stenson and Chad Oman are executive producing. Jason Reed is overseeing at Disney.