Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer‘s big-screen adaptation of The Lone Ranger has been given a December 21, 2012, release.
The high-profile project stars Armie Hammer – who portrayed the Winklevoss twins in the Oscar-winning The Social Network – in the title role, with Johnny Depp attached as Tonto.
Gore Verbinski will direct a script by Justin Haythe; Bruckheimer will produce.
Production is set to begin later this year on the film, which takes place in 1869 and centers on the masked Texas Ranger who, with the help of Tonto, fights injustice in the American Old West.
The 2012 holiday movie schedule is already filling up fast: Warner Bros is set to release the Peter Jackson-directed The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey on Dec. 14, 2012. Ang Lee‘s Life of Pi, Universal’s untitled Judd Apatow movie and Relativity Media’s Hunter-Killer are also set to be released Dec. 21.
