This weekend, theaters will be filled with new cinematic choices from the live-action, CGI-fest The Smurfs, the indie alien flick Attack the Block and the comic book based Cowboys & Aliens. The latter film touts the biggest budget and the biggest names including Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig, plus it’s directed by fanboy favorite Jon Favreau (Iron Man).
According to multiple news reports, Cowboys & Aliens is expected to earn way less than the studio predicted. Could this be another case of The Green Lantern? The movie has all the ingredients to be a success but it doesn’t sound like people are buying what the studio is selling.
On Friday Deadline.com printed this interesting piece of news and commentary regarding Cowboys & Aliens opening day performance.
“Sources are telling me that today’s seeming $15M debut may add up to at most a $40M weekend which is below the studio’s own lowball projections of $45+M. (This should have been done as a comedy!) Problem is that the budget has been pegged by insiders at $163M-$200M.
Tracking had been lagging especially with women of all ages until last Thursday when it popped up. Good thing Universal is only on the hook for 25% financing and domestic-only distribution with DreamWorks taking 50% and Relativity Media 25%. Paramount is distributing foreign. Sony Pictures’ Smurfs is looking like $10M today for $29M weekend which is respectable for its target audience of very young moviegoers.”
Later on, they updated the story and said the film was “picking up steam” and it looked like it could bow at $45 million. A studio rep claims that the film’s gross is in the right range for what they’ve previously projected. We’re not sure that Universal is being completely honest about their high expectations for Cowboys & Aliens. Considering it’s genre and the level of star power it has, more money should be finding its way back in their pockets.
If you had the chance to watch Cowboys & Aliens, The Smurfs, or Attack the Block, which would you go for?
