Lone Ranger‘s budget is ballooning and the production schedule is falling behind, according to insiders. This isn’t the first time Gore Verbinski‘s Western has been courting negative press: Johnny Depp was criticised for the first images of his Jack Sparrow-reminiscent Tonto costume.

The movie began shooting on February 28 in New Mexico, and is now said to be running days, or even weeks, behind its 120 day shooting schedule. Since then the release date has been pushed back until July 3, 2013.

One reason the film is behind schedule might be that it was temporarily shut down early in production due to exceeding its $250 million budget. Verbinski, Depp and producer Jerry Bruckheimer (the Pirates of the Caribbean team) agreed to trim costs to $215 million, by accepting lower upfront fees and cutting some action sequences.

All that seems to have been in vain though, as the budget is reportedly above $250 million again. A Walt Disney Pictures spokesperson says that number is not accurate, but, “It’s up to a number [Disney heads] didn’t want.”

Verbinski’s preference for building period locomotives rather than retrofitting existing trains is said to be a major cause of the blowout. He’s already been forced to cut one major train sequence, and now re-writes are under way again.

Considering Disney just made a killing on The Avengers (alongside Marvel), one has to wonder why they’re being so stingy with Lone Ranger. Especially as Verbinski, Depp and Bruckheimer have proven money-making machines for them in the past: Pirates of the Caribbean is the fourth highest-grossing film series of all time, with nigh on $4 billion dollars.

On another note though, Jack White is to compose the score for the film. He has experience with soundtracks after writing five songs for Cold Mountain and the theme to Quantam of Solace.

Lone Ranger is to be released in US cinemas on July 3, 2013, no current release date has been confirmed for Australia.

via The Hollywood Reporter