Weekend Box Office (07/31/11) part I: The Smurfs, Cowboys and Aliens do battle,tying with $36.2 million, while Stupid Crazy Love opens with $19.2 million.

This weekend is an excellent example of why it's the numbers, not the rankings that matter when discussing box office.  And, more importantly, the context of the numbers must be taken into account as well as the hard figures.  As of this moment, The Smurfs and Cowboys & Aliens are battling for the top slot at this weekend's box office, with both films hovering at $36.2 million.  One cost $110 million while the other cost $165 million.  One has strong foreign prospects and a guarantee of eternal life as a family DVD purchase/rental, while the other faces an uncertain future as it belongs to a distinctly American genre.  Point being, The Smurfs can take solace that it somewhat over-performed this weekend, while the Jon Favreau genre mash-up may go down as one of the bigger whiffs of the summer season.

Apparently domestic audiences don't like aliens or armed women... A tale of two Cowboys and Aliens posters.

 

The poster on the left is domestic and the one on the right is international.  For what it's worth, the domestic poster is a better piece of art.  It is moodier, with more natural looking photo-shopping for the two leads.  However, the international poster is interesting for two reasons.  First of all, the international poster actually has alien imagery on the poster while the domestic one does not.  Is this mere artistic choice, a choice to not reveal certain visual elements a month prior to release, or is Universal concerned that casual moviegoers will be turned off by explicit outer-space imagery in their western poster art?  Second of all, most obviously, the international poster actually features (and bills) Olivia Wilde, while the domestic one leaves her off.  So the question is, was the domestic omission a matter of trying to sell a more arch-typical 'two men against the world' western iconography, or is Universal somehow under the impression that putting Wilde on the poster (armed and ready no less) will turn off certain traditionalist segments of the audience?  You make the call, but there you have it.  Cowboys and Aliens opens on July 29th.  Expect the phrase 'in glorious 2D' to be thrown around quite a bit in junkets.

Scott Mendelson

Cowboys and Aliens gets a more plot-heavy second trailer.

Truth be told, I kinda like the moodier, scarier first teaser better. Favreau gets points for giving little away even in this longer trailer, especially when it comes to the visuals. I really don't care for the punk-rock western music that kicks in during the second half, as it really takes me out of the material. Everyone looks solid, although it's apparently obvious that Olivia Wilde has nothing to do other than look hot, get naked, and eventually get kidnapped. It's a shame about Clancy Brown, but it appears that he will not be in the sequel. In a summer filled with reboots, remakes, and sequels, Cowboys and Aliens still stands out as a genuinely original project, which this summer means that it's based on a comic book that no one has heard of. Nonetheless, this still looks like solid entertainment, and I'm always thrilled to see Harrison Ford in something that feels like a different kind of role (Morning Glory was a mediocre picture, but its just the kind of character role that Ford should be doing). This one comes out July 29th, so we'll see...

Scott Mendelson

Cowboys and Aliens gets a terrific Super Bowl teaser.

I'm not going to do a rundown of every single Super Bowl movie ad, primarily because there were just too many of them. One of the better spots of the night was another stellar showing by Universal for Jon Favreau's cult-comic book adaptation. Like the fantastic teaser, this one is selling the reality of its premise first (it's a real western, that happens to involve aliens), and holding off on the money shots until later. I've heard that much of the two teasers is mainly comprised of material from the first 40 minutes of the movie, so that's a promising sign. The nerds will already show up for this in droves. The key is convincing the general moviegoers who rediscovered their love of westerns through True Grit to buy a ticket on July 29th. So far, so good.

Scott Mendelson

Cowboys and Aliens gets a blue-tinted international poster

I'm always partial to posters that actually gives all of the major cast members star billing, so this gets brownie points accordingly. It's good to see that Universal is going low-key on the sell, as the first poster and the initial teaser seem to imply that this is just a pure western that happens to have extra-terrestrials in it. So far, so good. Thanks to Empire for the poster.

Scott Mendelson

Now THAT's a teaser! Jon Favreau's Cowboys and Aliens gets a trailer.

Knowing nothing about the source material, I'm kinda shocked at how tense and creepy the whole thing looks. Obviously there will be action and adventure, but the prevailing mood seems to be dread and horror. It's obviously a kick to see Harrison Ford playing a grizzled character role, and he certainly seems to have a pretty large part. It's nice to see Jon Favreau get his name on the trailer, as the poster merely said 'from the director of Iron Man'. This is obviously a pretty thorough tease, but it certainly gets the job done. The film feels like a genuine western that happens to involve aliens from outer space. After the last few days of kinda terrible trailers, this one stands out as a genuine triumph, both as a piece of marketing and as a stand-alone piece of art. So far, so good.

Scott Mendelson

Jon Favreau's Cowboys and Aliens gets a poster.

Obviously, this is as much of a tease as the Pirates of the Caribbean 4 poster. We can assume that the mysterious gunslinger is Daniel Craig. Apparently directing Iron Man is enough to get you a credit on the poster, but not enough to have your name on said poster. The big question marks for this one are A) how will one of the biggest 2D-only films fare in summer 2011 amidst a flurry of 3D and IMAX blockbusters, B) can Jon Favreau prove that Iron Man 2 was more Marvel's fault that his own, and C) how will Harrison Ford fare in basically playing the 'Kris Kristofferson role'. The last one is of most interest to me. Colorful supporting turns like this is exactly how Ford should be spending the last act of his fabled career. And, most amazingly, I'm pretty sure this is his first western since The Frisco Kid with Gene Wilder back in 1979. We'll apparently see a teaser trailer on Wednesday. I'm guessing that in the run-up to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part I, we will likely be a deluge of geek-friendly trailers (Green Lantern, Cowboys and Aliens, etc).

Scott Mendelson