COWBOYS AND ALIENS Feeling Blue This Weekend? THE SMURFS Are Neck And Neck!

Well THE SMURFS is a 3D movie so obviously COWBOYS AND ALIENS are a bit handcuffed for winning the box office weekend, but still it is a closer race than I thought would happen.

Both movies are clocking in at $36.2 million, this despite pre-estimates that the western sci-fi mashup would easily win the duel (some pegged them making $45-50m!). They thought that THE SMURFS (estimated at $20m) would be great counter programming. In the end it seems THE SMURFS can be vicious and carnivorous.

THE SMURFS actually smurfed everyone and came out on top for Friday with and estimated $13.4m to COWBOYS AND ALIENS $13m. Kinda stunning.

Personally I thought the marketing for COWBOYS AND ALIENS sucked badly. Folks didn't really know what to expect and that my friends is dangerous. Even Harrison Ford's "Give him to me now, or I'll take him" lacked punch in the trailer. Perhaps Favreau was too intimidated by Ford to push him. Yeah I know, I would be intimidated too when you have to direct Hans Solo, Indiana Jones and the President all rolled into one. I have yet to see it (going VERY soon) but I have my reservations. Plus the fact it SHOULD have been a 3D movie. Favreau just doesn't get that yet. Maybe that's another reason why he backed out of IRON MAN 3 and had no interest in directing THE AVENGERS (though he is Executive Producing).

Now THE SMURFS have hit everything bang on, right from it's cookie cutter, sure-fire family marketing, to an excellent voice cast, to enlisting the talents of Rob Engle (3D Visual Effects Supervisor) and his team at Sony. I'm trying to tee up a conversation with Rob very soon - it's been hard as we just moved yesterday and our lives may be in a new house, but still very much in boxes. Posting this from Starbucks!

So really, why SHOULD I be surprised with this round of box office? Or any of us? :-)

Box office stats courtesy of Box Office Mojo

Why Isn't Jon Favreau Pulling The 3D Trigger For COWBOYS AND ALIENS Right Now?

I am really shocked to hear that at this point the COWBOYS AND ALIENS production shoot will be in 2D! According to Deadline, Favreau is planning on a June 2D start in New Mexico for a July 29, 2011 release. So does this mean he is avoiding 3D altogether, aiming for conversion or just plain chickening out for this project? :-)

We know Jon is interested in 3D. He has said so many, many times and he was impressed with James Cameron's AVATAR. So what is with the delay? The aliens will clearly be a SciFi element to this western and 3D is a match in heaven for that genre. It would look gorgeous and make the scenes all the more believable. We all have to suspend disbelief and quite frankly to have cowboys have any chance against technically superior aliens is a stretch. In my mind, 3D is a REQUIREMENT here.

In more related news, Paul Dano and Clancy Brown are also joining the COWBOYS AND ALIENS cast as cowboys and Keith Carradine is saddling up to play the town sheriff.

In the end though, I think Favreau knows what he is doing. IRON MAN 2 was awesome. Would have been better in 3D, but still awesome. I feel the same for C&A. I am really hoping that the project goes 3D and native 3D at that. Pull the trigger Jon!

Sam Rockwell Joins COWBOYS AND ALIENS!!

Jim here. Sam Rockwell has signed on to play a bar owner in the Platinum Comics, Universal championed project COWBOYS AND ALIENS. Rockwell joins current cast members Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Noah Ringer and Olivia Wilde.

Jon Favreau will start lensing this July for a July 29, 2011 release date. It has not been confirmed to be a 3D movie just yet, but all signs are pointing to it so we are watching this property closely. Favreau seems to be a workaholic as he will be ramping up C&A immediately after IRON MAN 2.

Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman (TRANSFORMERS, STAR TREK) and Damon Lindelof (LOST) are the writers.

Settlers and Native Americans wage a bloody battle for control of the land. But when the Earth is threatened by alien conquerors, these sworn enemies must work together to save all humanity. The film is set in Arizona during the 1800s.

Here's hoping it goes 3D. The addition of Sam Rockwell is a brilliant move! He is one of my favorite actors of late and always brings something to the table that you just didn't expect. I see many more collaborations between Favreau and Rockwell on the horizon.

3D Shorts: 3 Pop Labs Sets Up Conversion Shop; SPIDER-MAN and COWBOYS AND ALIENS Going 3D? DEADPOOL?

Jim here. There is going to be lots o' news in the coming days so I will try to condense some of the swell by using 3D Shorts:

3 Pop Labs (imcube) has set up a Los Angeles services company to convert 2D properties to 3D. Brian Quandt will be heading up the operation. Says Quandt: “When I show Hollywood insiders the results of the imcube stereoscopic conversion process they are blown away by the quality. And when I share with them how rapid and cost-effective the conversion process can be, they pull out their calculators and get really excited.”

Quandt has other innovative tools including RushPlay and RushPlay 3D that have been used on over thirty major feature films in the past two years, including Year One, Julie and Julia and Love Ranch.

Other 2D to 3D conversion companies include PassmoreLab and In-Three. Certainly seems to be a booming business! And rightly so - plenty of existing library needs to be converted and of course S3D post production for new movies!!

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Is SPIDER-MAN 4 going to be shot in S3D or what?? My sources tell me yes and Sony is definitely a soup to nuts 3D company now. So that makes sense.

Sam Raimi is having words with the studio over a number of things including what villain to immortalize. I originally uncovered that The Lizard would be the sole antagonist, but Variety is now reporting that Raimi is backing The Vulture as his prime choice. Sony wants The Black Cat plus another criminal to keep spidey busy.

So because of all this villain villainy, writer after writer has been called in to try and piece together something that works for as many inside people as possible.

The end result is a LOT of confusion. One thing is for sure though - shooting has been delayed and with that comes a later release date too (possibly late summer 2011). You can't hurry special effects all that much. I am glad that Raimi is giving this his all - it improves my confidence in this iteration after what happened in SPIDER-MAN 3.

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COWBOYS AND ALIENS 3D?? Could be according to The Daily Beast. They are saying that the AVATAR effect could sway Jon Favreau (who loves 3D) and DreamWorks to shoot in S3D.

The story is about aliens invading the old west Earth - cowboys are about the only thing around to defend the world! A great writing team is behind this: Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci and Damon Lindelof. (via SuperHeroHype)

Thanks to @PROJECTCOULD for the heads up.

Yes please. I'll take this in 3D in a heartbeat. Now if we can just get Favreau shooting 3D for everything on his plate... *cough* IRONMAN *cough*. You KNOW you want to do it. Don't leave that cash on the table dude.

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And how about DEADPOOL? We know Marvel is VERY in tune with S3D. And this was before 3D hungry Disney bought them out! So could it happen? YOU BET. And with "The AVATAR Effect", it should be sooner than later. :-)

Variety is now reporting that Zombieland writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick will be penning DEADPOOL.

More on this when I get it...