Ok, Bad and Ugly readers, welcome to the Friday of Intense Server Issues Week. Because we’re still unclear what is happening at that big stack of hard drives somewhere that holds our lifeblood, we’re going to try to fit as much news as we can in one post that Dave will keep putting up until he brow-beats the site into doing what he wants.

Covered inside: Who is in talks to play the Lone Ranger beside Johnny Depp’s Tonto?  Our first official look at Iron Man’s War Machine. The status of Lethal Weapon 5. A closer look at the opening of Kick-Ass. The Weinsteins split from MGM and Disney’s Keynote…

Yesterday, we brought you news that Johnny Depp was onboard as Tonto for Disney’s Lone Ranger movie, which – of course – sent everyone on a fact-finding mission as to who will be donning the mask and mounting Silver. AICNhas a source called “Electric Dreams” (Dick shout out? 5 points.) who claims to have a lead on where the Mouse House is going to go with casting:

Word as of now is that George Clooney has shown a lot of interest in the role of the Lone Ranger, and the studio’s been talking to him about it. Previously it was rumored that Nic Cage was up for the role, but that rumor died a long time ago. Clooney’s name has come up quite a number of times since.

Some new Iron Man concept at images have been released online at Yahoo! movies. Most of these are probably off the DVD that is going to hit next Tuesday the 30th, but one image really stood out for us. It’s image 6 of 37, and it’s totally War Machine concept art. We know that Terrance Howard, playing Tony Stark’s buddy Jim Rhodes (ED: in this image drawn by Phil Saunders), will eventually get a crack at his own armor, and now we kind of know what that looks like to the filmmakers. It’s too early to start buzzing about Iron Man 2, yet we’re all vibrations over here.

In August, we reported that Shane Black (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang) had finished the script for Lethal Weapon 5 and given it to producer Joel Silver (Matrix trilogy, Speed Racer). When we heard that Shane Black had been hired to helm Cold Warrior for Universal Pictures, we thought this was the end of the 5th installment in the buddy-cop series, but apparently we were wrong. Entertainment Weekly reports that the film needs Mel Gibson’s go ahead before heading into green-lit-land and Black still intends to direct. Silver is out shaking hands to get to Gibson and we hear the story of 5 involves two new/young NYPD officers.

Remember when we described to you the opening shots of Kick-Ass and pointed you in the direction of some photos of the second unit shooting it? Well, now /Film has collected a clearer image of the film’s titular license plate and some hot new photos of Red Mist’s pimped-out ride. CLICK!

We were totally right about MGM, by the way. Well, not really. We were sort of right. When we noticed that the new Zach and Miri poster was missing the MGM logo, we knew something was up between the Weinsteins and the Lion, but our incorrect guess was that MGM had been hit harder by the financial crisis than we thought and was on the downward slope. The truth, as always, is more nebulous:

The Weinstein Co. and MGM have cut short their distribution deal by three months, with TWC taking back seven films to release on its own between now and the end of the year.

They include Kevin Smith’s “Zack and Miri Make a Porno,” which opens Oct. 31, and the bigscreen adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s haunting tome “The Road,” which unspools Nov. 14.

Per the terms of the early exit, MGM will still release two titles from TWC’s Dimension Films — Bernie Mac-Samuel L. Jackson comedy “Soul Men,” opening Nov. 7, and Christmas Day sports drama “Hurricane Season,” toplining Forest Whitaker.

The three-year distribution deal between MGM and Harvey and Bob Weinstein’s TWC was set to expire Dec. 31. The decision to exit the agreement early came after TWC signed its own pay TV output deal with Showtime, instead of relying on MGM’s Showtime deal, a main impetus for the pairing with MGM.

This reminds us of a story Kevin Smith tells where Bob and Harvey told him he didn’t have to cut Clerks II down to an R rating until MGM offered them a Showtime deal through MGM’s distribution network.

Now that the Weinsteins have made themselves a Showtime deal, there’s no need to keep MGM as a middle man.

Also announced alongside Depp-a-palooza, Disney Studios chairman Dick Cook had quite a few celebrity encounters at the company’s keynote. Miley Cyrus was in the house with her dad Billy Rae to announce Hanna Montanta: The Movie on April 10th next year. Jim Carrey was there to promote Robert Zemeckis’ mo-cap Christmas Carol, Sandra Bullock returns to comedy (and a nude scene?) in The Proposal with Ryan Reynolds, William H Macy, Tim Allen, John Travolta and Martin Lawerence showed up to promote Wild Hogs 2 and John Lasseter talked Toy Story 3. You can read the report we did from Coming Soon’s Heather Newgen.

Now let’s hope this post doesn’t go bye-bye in the next few minutes.