The animated western *Rango*, starring Johnny Depp and directed by Gore Verbinski, is set to leave Paramount+ in the United States in September 2026. The film reunited the pair after their three *Pirates of the Caribbean* collaborations and stood out for its unusually mature, genre-inflected approach to animation at a time when family-friendly, franchise-driven films dominate the medium.

Rather than drawing on a children's story, *Rango* took inspiration from classic Westerns including *The Good, the Bad and the Ugly*, *For a Few Dollars More* and *Once Upon a Time in the West*, as well as the neo-noir *Chinatown* and Depp's earlier film *Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas*. The gamble paid off: the 2011 film won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and more than doubled its budget at the box office, cementing its reputation as one of the more ambitious animated titles of its era.