Where's the Westerns?

I've been wondering why don't Westerns get made like they used to?  What happened to make Post Apocalyptic movies so popular and the Western fall? Did the Western fall to the wayside because the ever popular and racist answer for who the villain would be from the 1940's and 1950's wouldn't be acceptable today?  Well Westerns had surpassed that with movies like True Grit, The Outlaw Josey Wales, and High Noon...so it can't be that.  There have been recent Westerns like the True Grit remake starring Jeff Bridges and last years Django Unchained that were very successful so the people will still watch them but they are not being made as rapidly as they used to.  Yet at the same time between zombies, war, and alien invasion the Post Apocalyptic film is becoming the fastest rising genre in media.  If you think about it both film genres have the same premise most of the time, the lone hero wanders through untamed territory where there is no law and has to resort to making his or her own law by the code he or she lives by.  Let's compare two movies, one from each genre.  For the Western movie lets use Pale Rider.  For the Post Apocalyptic movie lets use Book of Eli.  Both films are centered on a mysterious drifter that has ties with the Christian God that will resort to violence when pushed.  In both cases the lone drifter also finds an innocent soul portrayed by a young girl.  This symbol of innocence engages the drifters humanity and in the end justifies the violence needed for the eventual showdown.  In the end we aren't really sure who these drifters were or if they were guided through their trials by the Hand of God.

So why aren't the Westerns being made?  Maybe it's because our society is to overly saturated by media that for most people a Western moves too slow and can't grab the attention of the generic target audience that films need to engage to be successful.  Let's face it most people under the age of 40 can't even watch black and white movies because they get bored even though several of the best films ever made are in black and white.  I'm always shocked by how many people I know who have never seen the movie Casablanca, even people that call themselves film people which I think you can't tell people you're a film person or a film nut if you haven't seen movies like Casablanca, Citizen Kane, or Touch of Evil.  If it's the pace of films nowadays then how do the big dramatic films that are recognized every award season.  These films usually have a slower pace but seem to engage the audience, or is it because they don't really target the generic target audience.  The most measured target audience is males usually between the ages of 14-35.  Are these the audiences that are driving these dramatic films or is the lack of that target audience already factored in when they set out to make the movie?

There are so many stories that could make a great Western film.  There's a book by Louis L'amor called The Shadow Riders.  This is the story of two brothers who fought for opposite sides during the Civil War who are on their way home only to find renegade Confederate Soldiers raided their parents home and kidnapped their kid sisters to be sold into slavery and prostitution.  This story would make a great film.  It was already adapted for a TV movie starring Tom Selleck and Sam Elliott.  It's a little too lighthearted for the story.  There should be some animosity for one of the brothers against the other for fighting for the other side.  Plus they down play the fact that their kid sisters are set to be sold into prostitution.  Oh, and if anyone steals my idea, you suck.