Monday Morning Talkback: Let's Hear About The Smurfs and Cowboys & Aliens
Actual weekend box office numbers won't be released until later today, but regardless of the final results, many of you saw either The Smurfs or Cowboys & Aliens during the last days of July. Or maybe both! As such, there's plenty to talk about -- both onscreen and, more important, off.
Topics on the table regarding this neck and neck box office battle:
· Was the success of The Smurfs a case of fans embracing the film, or ticket buyer indifference toward Cowboys & Aliens?
· Is it fair to consider Cowboys & Aliens a bust when it will likely have a bigger opening weekend than Super 8?
· If opening weekends are about the marketing, where did Cowboys & Aliens go wrong? How could DreamWorks have sold the film better? Is this just a case of a lemon being a lemon and audiences knowing better?
· Does a lackluster showing for Cowboys & Aliens hurt the career of Jon Favreau? Along those same lines, is Harrison Ford still relevant as a movie star?
· Are you outraged that Sony reinvented The Smurfs for a new generation? If so, why?
· How do you see both of these films performing in the weeks ahead? Will Cowboys & Aliens even top $100 million when faced with competition from Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Fright Night and Final Destination 5?
And so on. You could even discuss the movies themselves -- shocking, right? -- and how you felt they accomplished their respective goals. The floor is yours, dear Movieline reader; leave your comments below.
Subscribe to the new Movieline on YouTube
Comments
It could be that Cowboys and Aliens showed the same trailer with the same scenes over and over without showing anything super exciting about the movie. But wow how did Smurfs do those numbers that movie looked awful even as a children's movie
I'm sad about C&A. I really enjoyed that film more than almost all the blockbusters this summer. I'm not really sure what the problem was for most reviewers (this site included). It was a fun genre mash up with great western elements. Daniel Craig played the nameless drifter really well. It had a sense of adventure. Harrison Ford was above average (now that he's smoked so much weed that he's basically brain dead). It was WAAAAAY better than Thor, Captain America, Green Lantern, etc. (Harry Potter, however, was the best movie of the summer and the first Harry Potter film since the fourth one that didn't make me want to blow my brains out from boredom.)
Don't blame me, I saw Captain America!
I haven't seen HArry Potter, but I crapped out on the storyline a few years ago.
That said I agree 100%. Cowboys and Aliens is a western that tells a story that has not really be breached. It is one of the most original storylines out there,(especially this summer), and the acting is great (I actually like Ford as the gruff cattle baron). I've given up on the critics because they don't know shit anymore. The movie was fun, the story was fun, and the acting entertaining. Those are the three most important things for a movie. C&A had all three, and still asked the most important question: would I see it again? YES!