MUMBAI: As predicted fireworks blazed at the Fourth of July box office which headed to $229 million (mn) domestic through Sunday (+16 per cent from last year) and a new three-day weekend record for the holiday. But there was only bad news for Disney‘s expensive The Lone Ranger (3,904 theaters) which opened disastrously Wednesday, remained weak on Thursday, did only $10.6 mn Friday, and flatlined for $10.7 mn Saturday. That‘s a very disappointing five-day holiday of $48.9 mn max. The two-quadrant Western won‘t cover its high $215 mn-$250 mn cost despite this holiday‘s 4x multiple. The Johnny Depp - Armie Hammer starrer‘s domestic cume is way below.

Disney‘s initial lowball projection of $65 mn and the third big-budget bomb of summer 2013. (Two Sony pics - White House Down and After Earth - also were expensive bombs.) As Deadline first reported, the studio in August 2011 shut down Lone Ranger for six months after the budget ballooned out of control. Disney would have been better off scraping the pic altogether. Depp‘s worldwide popularity may help overseas where oaters usually don‘t excel.Lone Ranger opened day and date in 30 per cent of the foreign landscape but only four big markets: Italy and Russia (released 2 July) and Australia and Korea (4 July). It made $24.3 mn internationally for a global cume of $73.2 mn through Sunday.