Johnny Depp, golden boy of Hollywood, who has the fortunate distinction of wearing a sundry amount of hats in his profession, and has transcended himself to become known as a worldwide dynamo in the cinematic field, a massive success story that has spawned countless franchises, small independent films held close to the vest, eclectic films that stretch his talents and our imaginations, and a plethora of other career spanning genres, celebrates his 50th birthday today.

From smash blockbusters like his salty and charismatic portrayal of grizzled Captain Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean series to his countless turns with Tim Burton, where he’s played characters as diverse as Edward Scissorhands, Barnabas Collins, The Mad Hatter, Sweeney Todd (in which he showed an unexpected penchant for singing), and Charlie, who ran his Chocolate Factory, to playing real-life figures like John Dillinger and Hunter S. Thompson (of sorts), and mythological literary figureheads like Tonto in the upcoming Lone Ranger, there is really no stone that hasn’t been turned by Depp’s allure, confident acting style and gregarious, low-key yet positively enigmatic off-camera presence.

Hi-yo Silver! The first TV spot for Walt Disney Pictures’ summer western spectacular The Lone Ranger has premiered during tonight’s Super Bowl and now it is available online for those of us – myself included – who don’t watch football to enjoy.

You can watch the 90-second spot here below.

The studio and director Gore Verbinski definitely put together a humdinger of a teaser here with plenty of action, mythologizing, and even a touch of light-hearted banter from stars Johnny Depp (as Tonto) and Armie Hammer (as the Ranger). The whole “yes-no-yes-no” bit at the end gets tiresome though. At least the focus is on Hammer’s character this time instead of the footage being all “Lookee at Johnny Depp with a bird on his hand and crap” and runaway locomotives, and Depp doesn’t look to be taking this stuff completely seriously. That is a relief.

Two of next year’s most anticipated blockbusters are getting their release dates shifted. Gore Verbinski‘s big screen adaptation of The Lone Ranger starring Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer has moved from May 31st to July 3rd, pitting it against Despicable Me 2 and 20th Century Fox’s 3D re-release of Independence Day. Meanwhile, the Marvel Studios sequel Thor 2 being directed by Alan Taylor (Game of Thrones) will now open on November 8th instead of November 15th, giving it a much-needed two-week head start before the release of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.

The Thor 2 release date move is a canny one as it will need all the time it can get before Catching Fire is released. While there’s no doubt that the original Thor was a successful film and has seen its following grow substantially in the wake of The Avengers, the first Hunger Games has the greatest appeal to younger moviegoers, particularly since both movies will be competing for those all-important holiday season dollars.

The release last month of the first image of Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer in character from next summer’s big-budget western adventure The Lone Ranger didn’t particularly set the world on fire. One of the major question marks surrounding the troubled production was how Depp would look as the Ranger’s faithful Indian companion Tonto. In the months before the release of the first Pirates of the Caribbean, images of Depp in character as Captain Jack Sparrow led skeptics to believe the eclectic actor had gone off the deep end and the movie would be an epic bomb for Disney.

Instead Pirates was a blockbuster smash that finally made Depp a bona fide movie star and spawned a billion-dollar franchise for the Mouse House. It also established the quirky and roguish Captain Jack as the first iconic movie hero of the 21st century. Pretty soon the stylish swashbuckler would become a popular Halloween costume as well. Depp had taken an unusual approach in his ideas for the character’s look, much to the consternation of studio executives already sweating over the movie’s gargantuan (for 2002/3) budget and the nagging uncertainty of a pirate movie, much less one based on one of their famous theme park rides, but the gamble paid off handsomely.

The first official image from next summer’s The Lone Ranger has been released, featuring stars Armie Hammer and Johnny Depp as the classic re-imagined western heroes the Lone Ranger and Tonto.

You can check out the image here below.

The Lone Ranger reunites Depp with the Pirates of the Caribbean team of director Gore Verbinski, writers Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, and producer Jerry Bruckheimer.