The first trailer for 'The Lone Ranger' is here!

With a calamitous shoot finally completed, Disney has spent this week building up the hype for next summer's The Lone Ranger with two sets of images released and yesterday's poster reveal. The film reunites the entirety of the Pirates of the Caribbean team, with Johnny Depp slipping into the showy role of Tonto, Gore Verbinski directing, Jerry Bruckheimer producing, and a script by Terry Rossio and Ted Elliot. Can they recapture the same magic as before and launch another $1B franchise?

The first trailer for The Lone Ranger has been released, although for those who attended Comic-Con they will recognize it as the same footage from the Disney panel. It's actually a pretty impressive clip, and Verbinski, who is a devoted fan of the Western genre, has given the film a much harder edge than I think many will be expecting. That said, when Depp goes into his "There will come a time, Kemosabe" routine, it sounds a little bit silly, and the door seems wide open for the same sort of bouncy and easily digestible action that the 'Pirates' flicks were famous for. There's a lot less of Depp, and plenty of Hammer as the titular masked hero, which should appease those who felt the latter would be shuffled into the background.

There's still the potential for this to be the disaster all of the production troubles hint at it being, but this trailer is pretty good. Expect a higher quality version to be released later today. The Lone Ranger opens on July 3rd 2013.....[CBM]