One flick I reluctantly kept off of my top-ten summer box-office winners this year is Jon Favreau’s COWBOYS & ALIENS. I don’t know, the combination of it being released in late July, in only 2-dimensions, has me a bit worried. And much like SUPER 8 (which outperformed its expectations), the film isn’t a proven franchise earner. It’s more or less an original, which means the built-in audience may not be there in the first place. It’ll definitely interesting to see how this sucker plays out…
In any event, a pair of new posters for the high-concept tent-pole has been unrolled. The first, which you can see to the right, shows a lone Daniel Craig looking mighty heroic with his six-shooter at his hip. The second features the same image of Craig, this time with his pals Olivia Wilde and Harry Ford by his side…the same portentous alien spacecraft over their shoulders.
Roping into theaters July 29th, COWBOYS & ALIENS transports us to:
1873. Arizona Territory. A stranger with no memory of his past stumbles into the hard desert town of Absolution. The only hint to his history is a mysterious shackle that encircles one wrist. What he discovers is that the people of Absolution dont welcome strangers, and nobody makes a move on its streets unless ordered to do so by the iron-fisted Colonel Dolarhyde. Its a town that lives in fear.
But Absolution is about to experience fear it can scarcely comprehend as the desolate city is attacked by marauders from the sky. Screaming down with breathtaking velocity and blinding lights to abduct the helpless one by one, these monsters challenge everything the residents have ever known.
Now, the stranger they rejected is their only hope for salvation. As this gunslinger slowly starts to remember who he is and where hes been, he realizes he holds a secret that could give the town a fighting chance against the alien force. With the help of the elusive traveler Ella, he pulls together a posse comprised of former opponents, townsfolk, Dolarhyde and his boys, outlaws and Apache warriors all in danger of annihilation. United against a common enemy, they will prepare for an epic showdown for survival.
Sam Rockwell, Paul Dano, Clancy Brown, Keith Carradine, Ana de la Reguera, Walton Goggins, Noah Ringer, Adam Beach, David O’Hara, Buck Taylor, Abigail Spencer and Toby Huss also take part in the picture.
Ms. Wilde!