The Lone Ranger gets a dubbed premiere in Italy

At an unusual world premiere for Gore Verbinski's 'The Lone Ranger' Italian fans were treated to an unexpected print that had been dubbed into their native language.

Officials at the Taormina film festival said they were expecting an English language cut of the forthcoming western starring Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer, but at the last minute Disney provided a version dubbed into Italian with no subtitles.

[Depp and Streep to sing for Disney?]

It's thought that Disney feared the threat of piracy from the screening. The festival was technically getting a world premiere (despite the lack of any of the film's stars at the event) as it occurred nine hours before its official world premiere at Disney’s California Adventure Park in Anaheim.

Disney officials have, however, denied that they ever intended to provide a subtitled version of the film for the Italian festival:

"This was always planned as a dubbed screening given the release date around the world, and subtitles were never considered for the festival," a spokesman said.

[The Lone Ranger final trailer]

However it's most unusual for any major film festival to show a dubbed version of the film. Commentators have said it is the first time in recent memory that a dubbed film has be shown at the 59-year-old Taormina festival.

'The Lone Ranger' is released in the UK on August 2nd.