Cowboys & Aliens received mixed reviews, with critics generally praising its acting while criticizing other aspects. The film was considered to be a financial disappointment, taking $174.8 million in box office receipts on a $163 million budget. The film's aliens were designed to be "cool and captivating", with some details, such as a fungus that grows on their wounds, created to depict the creatures as frontiersmen facing adversity in an unfamiliar place.Ĭowboys & Aliens premiered at the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con and was released theatrically in the United States and Canada on July 29, 2011. Measures were taken to maintain a serious Western element despite the film's "inherently comic" title and premise.
Despite studio pressure to release the film in 3-D, Favreau chose to film traditionally and in anamorphic format (widescreen picture on standard 35 mm film) to further a "classic movie feel". With a cast of Harrison Ford as Colonel Dolarhyde, Daniel Craig as Jake Lonergan, Olivia Wilde as Ella Swenson, Sam Rockwell as Doc, and Paul Dano as Percy Dolarhyde it seemed like a sure thing. It was directed by Jon Favreau who had huge hopes for it after his successes with Iron Man and Iron Man 2.
On a budget of $163 million, filming for Cowboys & Aliens began in June 2010, in New Mexico and California. Cowboys & Aliens was a sci-fi action film based upon a graphic novel of the same name. The plot revolves around an amnesiac outlaw (Craig), a wealthy cattleman (Ford), and a mysterious. The film is based on the 2006 graphic novel of the same name created by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg. Thursday night during American Idol, Universal Pictures and director Jon Favreau premiered the theatrical trailer for the upcoming Summer blockbuster Cowboys & Aliens. After the graphic novel was published in 2006, development on the film was begun again, and Favreau signed on as director in September 2009. Cowboys & Aliens is a 2011 American science fiction Western film directed by Jon Favreau and starring Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, and Olivia Wilde. Cowboys & Aliens is a 2011 American science fiction Western film directed by Jon Favreau and starring Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, and Olivia Wilde. The project began development in April 1997, when Universal Pictures and DreamWorks Pictures bought film rights to a concept pitched by Rosenberg, former president at Malibu Comics, which he described as a graphic novel in development. The film was produced by Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Kurtzman, Orci, and Rosenberg, with Steven Spielberg and Favreau serving as executive producers. The screenplay was written by Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, Damon Lindelof, Mark Fergus, and Hawk Ostby, based on a screen story by the latter two along with Steve Oedekerk. The plot revolves around an amnesiac outlaw (Craig), a wealthy cattleman (Ford), and a mysterious traveler (Wilde) who must ally to save a group of townspeople abducted by aliens. Movie Review: COWBOYS & ALIENS Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford fit perfectly into this close encounter of the Western kind. The film is based on the 2006 graphic novel of the same name created by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg.
In the years since, though, it has come to be more appreciated for the personality and passion Favreau brought to the project, which becomes evident when you consider where the movie was shot.Cowboys & Aliens is a 2011 American science fiction Western film directed by Jon Favreau and starring Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, and Olivia Wilde.
It ultimately grossed only $174 million worldwide, against a $163 million budget (via Box Office Mojo).
Interestingly, the one exception might be the most personal and unique blockbuster he's made yet: 2011's "Cowboys & Aliens." Despite a stacked cast, including Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford, and an inventive blend of sci-fi and Western, adapted from Scott Mitchell Rosenberg's eponymous 2006 graphic novel, the movie was divisive among audiences and critics. First by launching the Marvel Cinematic Universe with the first two "Iron Man" movies, then by inaugurating a new era in CGI technology with "The Jungle Book" and "The Lion King," then by spearheading both seasons of "The Mandalorian," Favreau seems to be turning everything he touches to gold lately. The writer-director we used to associate with bouncy popular comedies like " Elf," "Swingers," and "Made" spent the 2010s establishing a new brand as Hollywood's go-to helmer of box office mammoths. It's been a meteoric decade for Jon Favreau.