A lot of money was put into Gore Verbinski’s The Lone Ranger, in fact, it inflated to $250 million. That astronomical number – for a western, no less – made a few fans and number-crunchers worried. But even after the budget inflation, script rewrites, and weather delays, Verbinski calmed some nerves by presenting a surprising teaser trailer at Comic-Con.

But for those who didn’t get a chance to see the footage, USA Today has released new images of Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer, as Tonto and the Lone Ranger respectively, the Southwest landscape, and the infamous locomotive that caused the budget to go up so high.

Check out the images below.

To think that the budget for this film could have exceeded far above the reported $250 million if those reported CGI wolves were kept in the script. Thankfully Disney did not want to risk it. But one of the main reasons why the budget for this film is so high is because of that locomotive you see in these photos. That locomotive was built from the ground up, and as you can imagine, it’s not cheap to build and transport that kind of machinery.

There’s no denying that these pictures look great. Verbinski looks like he was able to capture the spirit of the Old West without having to resort to green or blue screens.

The Lone Ranger opens in theaters on July 3rd, 2013.

Images

[Source: USA Today]