At Close Range

Disney, star Johnny Depp, producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Gore Verbinski have finally reached an agreement over "The Lone Ranger" film adaptation says Deadline.

A new start date will be announced shortly it seems.

The project was originally slated to shoot this Fall until the studio pulled the plug on the project back in August when the budget looked to be blowing out to $250-275 million.

Major talks and script re-writes later and now the film's budget has been brought down to a more reasonable $215 million.

The story of the iconic character's begins among 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 (The Social Network's Armie Hammer) is found, however, by an American Indian named Tonto (Depp), who nurses him back to health

The disappointment of the big-budget "Cowboys & Aliens." had given the studio cold feet. The original 2009 script by Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio had things like werewolves and other supernatural elements in it--as did Justin Haythe (Revolutionary Road)'s re-writes.

Production will likely start in New Mexico early next year which means the film's December 21st 2012 release date will probably be scrapped for a Summer 2013 release.