Everyone seems to be coming to the defense of THE LONE RANGER but for reasons outside of the quality of the movie itself. First, critics lambasted the film in advance of abysmal box office results. Then, Jerry Bruckheimer, Johnny Depp, Armie Hammer, and more came to the film’s defense saying that it was the media’s fault for dooming the film financially. Whether you believe it or not, both parties are right. THE LONE RANGER was not very good, but the bad press also was a major factor in the horrible grosses to date.
Now, someone completely unrelated to THE LONE RANGER production, Mark Wahlberg, has decided to chime in with his take on the fiasco that has been this Summer at the box office. Speaking to The LA Times, Wahlberg supported Johnny Depp‘s claim that the media focused on the production and budget of the film rather than the movie itself. But, Wahlberg also blamed the studios for dooming their blockbuster films:
“They are spending so much money to pull the wool over the audience’s eyes with these effects-driven movies. It’s not like JURASSIC PARK, where you saw something groundbreaking and innovative and said ‘Holy … I gotta see that. Every end-of-the-Earth movie kind of feels the same.”
I have to say I agree with Marky Mark wholeheartedly. But, isn’t he the same guy who is currently filming the fourth movie in a franchise about giant robots smashing the shit out big cities? Isn’t that the same thing?
“TRANSFORMERS is a different thing. What Michael’s been able to do is elevate the material and take the human element to a whole other place. Having the father-daughter relationship [that Wahlberg’s character figures into] is so much more interesting.”
“Michael Bay isn’t going to be in a situation where a movie is $100 million over budget. I’ve never seen anyone that can manage the entire thing so single-handedly and seamlessly,”
While I don’t agree with his idea that TRANSFORMERS is different than these other movies because it may be the worst culprit of that type of movie-making, the root of the problem is with the studio franchise method of spewing out the same movies over and over again. Until that changes, we will continue to see bombs like THE LONE RANGER again and again.
At least Wahlberg mixes it up. 2 GUNS is now playing and he is filming TRANSFORMERS 4 with LONE SURVIVOR opening in a few months. He also plans to do a small drama before jumping into production on TED 2 next year.