15 Years Ago in Theaters, A Big-Budget Sci-Fi Mashup Confused Audiences With A Kooky Premise & Lost Its Opening Day to The Smurf’s
While Westerns and sci-fi movies have always been uneasy bedfellows, one big-budget blockbuster from 2011 took a hiding from The Smurfs thanks to its reliance on this risky genre blend. Some genres simply go together, while others are a tough sell. The Evil Dead franchise’s success proves that comedy and horror are as perfect a pairing as chocolate and peanut butter, with the levity of humour providing a respite from the intensity of the horror genre’s trademark dread and gore.
In contrast, viewers would be hard-pressed to find a film noir musical that proved a mainstream box office hit, although one could argue that 2002’s Chicago fits this exceedingly limited bill. While the failure of 2026’s live-action remake of Moana proves that no one can ever be truly certain which movies will soar at the box office and which will sink, sci-fi Westerns seem to be another reliably unreliable genre mashup when it comes to return on investment. Never was this more evident than in July 2011, when Cowboys & Aliens lost to The Smurfs at the box office.
Cowboys & Aliens Was Released On July 29, 2011
Directed by Iron Man’s Jon Favreau, Cowboys & Aliens seemed like the perfect follow-up to the director’s vital Marvel Cinematic Universe contribution back in 2011. Based on the 2006 graphic novel of the same name, the movie saw Daniel Craig’s amnesic drifter work alongside Olivia Wilde’s enigmatic femme fatale and Harrison Ford’s taciturn cattle rancher to battle invading aliens on the wild plains of 1873 New Mexico.
With a starry supporting cast including Walton Goggins, Paul Dano, Sam Rockwell, and Wyatt Russell, Cowboys & Aliens seemed like a sure thing pre-release. Craig was at the height of his James Bond franchise popularity, Ford’s career renaissance was in full swing after the box office success of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and Wilde’s star was rising thanks to her small-screen supporting role in House. However, the filmmakers would have been wise to remember just how much viewers hated the extraterrestrial twist in that fourth Indiana Jones movie.
Cowboys & Aliens Highlighted An Awkward Reality For Sci-Fi Movies
Cowboys & Aliens landed in cinemas on July 29, 2011, and promptly lost an opening weekend box office battle to to The Smurfs, opening to a weak $13.0 million while the live-action cartoon reboot earned a commanding $13.3 million. This was a bad sign since The Smurfs cost $110 million and Cowboys & Aliens cost $163 million, but the worst was yet to come. By the end of their respective box office runs, The Smurfs had earned over $550 million, while Cowboys & Aliens stalled out at a disastrous $175 million.
Like 1999’s earlier Will Smith vehicle Wild Wild West, the under performance of Cowboys & Aliens proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that mainstream viewers simply aren’t interested in big-budget sci-fi Westerns. Although the upcoming alternate history Western Dinosaurs of the Wild West hopes to buck this trend, that cult curio benefits from a far lower budget. In contrast, when it comes to the existing history of major studio blockbusters, Cowboys & Aliens losing to The Smurfs should be a warning ahead of any future sci-fi Western investments.
