Remember that surprisingly serious trailer for Cowboys & Aliens? Well, supposedly we can expect the same dark tone in the actual film. Jon Favreau has said that the film is a straight Sergio-Leone-style western crossed with Ridley Scott's Alien. That sounds great! But apparently Universal is very worried that audiences are expecting a silly action-comedy instead. Hmm. This seems a bit disingenuous considering that the movie is called, um...Cowboys & Aliens. If this is the title they decided on while hoping to market a "deadly serious" film, I can only imagine the list of titles they rejected. And so, in Movieline tradition, here is that list.
(Granted, the filmmakers are staying true to the title of the original graphic novel, but this seems like a pretty weak defense if they wanted to market a serious film. As always, feel free to contribute your own!)
Cowboys, Aliens & Ninjas
Pat Garrett and Billy the Extraterrestrial
A Fistful of Space Dollars
Dark Knight of the Cowboys and Aliens
An Alternate Theory About Western Industrialization
Winchester Vs. Laser
Stagecoach Vs. Spaceship
The Good, The Bad, and the Extraterrestrial
Mars Needs Horses
Close Encounters of the Spaghetti-Western Kind
UFO at the O.K. Corral
The Much Wilder Bunch
I've Been Blowing Up the Railroad (All the Livelong Day)
Hang 'Em REALLY High
The Abduction of Jesse James by Aliens From Space
How the West was ACTUALLY Won
Space Bandits
Wild Wild West 2
Men in Black 3
Blazing Saddles