OK, so now we know.  The Lone Ranger was a disaster—-one of the biggest Hollywood trainwrecks of the year—-because critics decided in advance not to like it because it cost so much.

At least that’s the opinions of stars Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer.

Not because it was a boring, overlong mish-mash of previous and much better Westerns? Or that nobody under the age of 40 even know who the Lone Ranger was? Or that Depp’s portrayal of Tonto as a Native American Buster Keaton was a bad joke?

No. It never had a chance of succeeding and could lose as much as $150 million because of negative press, according to Depp.  “I think the reviews were written seven to eight months before we released the film,” Depp told interviewers.

Producer Jerry Bruckheimer, who made millions off the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise with Depp, and is doubtless now worried about the next one which is due to begin filming shortly, agreed: “I think they were reviewing the budget, not reviewing the movie. ”

Hammer, who played the title character in the $250 million film says:  “This is the deal with American critics: they’ve been gunning for our movie since it was shut down the first time. They decided to slit the jugular of our movie.”

Oh yeah? Let’s face it, if bad reviews could sink a movie, Adam Sandler, Ben Stiller, Steven Seagal and countless others would have been out of work long ago.