For much of the weekend, the two films vying for the #1 slot seemed to be neck-in-neck,
with
The Smurfs and
Cowboys & Aliens racking up virtually the same
numbers. Well, a clear victor was finally determined.
Well, when the dust settled and everyone counted their fingers and toes (and dollars) -
Cowboys & Aliens
was deemed the winner, with $36.4 million. While this nothing to sneeze at, the movie
is a $200 million production, sporting an all-star cast anchored by Harrison Ford and Daniel
Craig, and featuring a roster of starry talent behind-the-scenes as well – producers Ron
Howard and Steven Spielberg, screenwriter Damon Lindelof (co-creator of
Lost) and
director Jon Favreau, who scored back-to-back summer blockbusters with the two
Iron
Man movies.
People were probably turned off by the goofy, high concept title and the lukewarm reviews
the movie received. Sometimes when a movie goes through as long and tortured a
development process as
Cowboys & Aliens whent through, it's a sign of what the final
product will end up like. And the film really was a disastrously limp and boring folly from start
to finish, never capitalizing on the built in fun the title suggests.
Of course,
Cowboys & Aliens minor triumph was that it bested
The Smurfs, the 3D live
action/animation hybrid based on the beloved (for some reason) children's series. It earned
$35.6 million over the weekend, which is amazing because it looked so awful (I couldn't bring
myself to watch it). It should end up a sleeper hit, especially since much of the family
entertainment has petered out in recent weeks (why couldn't you have opened
Winnie
the Pooh NOW, Disney?)
Last weekend's #1 movie,
Captain America sank to #3, with a 60.7% drop off and
$25.5 million, meaning its slightly lagging behind Marvel's other big summer movie
Thor. (
X-Men: First Class was a Fox production, made outside of the Marvel
family.) It's a shame, because
Captain America is a much better movie than
Thor, but between now and next summer's superhero pajama party
The
Avengers, I'm sure plenty of people will see the Captain's WWII-era exploits.
The only other new movie in the top 10 this week was Warner Bros' outstanding
Crazy, Stupid, Love.,
which landed softer than I would have expected – it came in at #5 with $19.1 million. I think
that it could conceivably climb higher this weekend, though - there will be strong word of
mouth around this one. Everyone I talked to who saw it this weekend absolutely loved it, and
it's certainly better than this week's R-rated entry
The Change-Up.
- #1 - Cowboys & Aliens (Universal) - $36.4 million
- #2 - The Smurfs (Sony) - $35.6 million
- #3 - Captain America (Paramount) - $25.5 million
- #4 - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 (Warner Bros) - $21.9
million
- #5 - Crazy, Stupid, Love. (Warner Bros) - $19.1 million
- #6 - Friends with Benefits (Sony) - $9.2 million
- #7 - Horrible Bosses (Warner Bros) - $7.1 million
- #8 - Transformers: Dark of the Moon (Paramount) - $6 million
- #9 - Zookeeper (Sony) - $4.3 million
- #10 - Cars 2 (Disney) - $2.3 million