'Smurfs' Fight 'Cowboys & Aliens' to Photo Finish: Box Office Report This summer 29-31

Exactly what the smurf? 'Cowboys & Aliens' rode into the city, guns a-blazin', basically sure to lasso the very best place in the box office a few days ago. However the gunslingers and extraterrestrials found an suddenly equal foe within the wee blue folk using the floppy caps. The end result: an astonishingly strong showing by 'The Smurfs' that left both movies inside a virtual tie when early studio estimations were released on Sunday. There's barely a Smurf's price of difference within the stated figures for that two movies: $36,206,250 for 'Cowboys' versus. '$36,200,000 for 'The Smurfs.' This is a difference of less than 800 moviegoers. So, while 'Cowboys' keeps the slimmest of edges on Sunday, 'Smurfs' could end up in the saddle when final figures are launched on Monday. How did this happen? Most commentators expected 'Cowboys' to spread out above $40 million and 'Smurfs' to spread out around $20 to $25 million. In the end, 'Cowboys' appeared a foolproof summer time movie, a large-budget action spectacle genre mash-track of a wonderfully explanatory title, produced by the director of 'Iron Guy,' starring Indiana Johnson and Mission Impossible, and amped with a stable-filled with IMAX tests among its 3,750 screens. Within the other corner, 'The Smurfs' appeared made to please kids while offending parents (using its terrible reviews) who fondly appreciated the small men from eighties TV. It had three dimensional in the holster but no large celebrities, in addition to a more compact release (3,395 screens). But, when Friday's amounts arrived on the scene, it had been the Smurfs who have been riding tall and also the cowboys who appeared Smurf-sized. 'The Smurfs' - Trailer No. 3 On Saturday, 'Cowboys' required the pole position, while 'Smurfs' fell behind. That brought to Sunday's expected photo finish, though Sunday business has a tendency to favor family movies. Weak reviews did not help 'Cowboys,' while 'Smurfs' created quite strong word-of-mouth. 'Smurfs' also appears to possess been timed well, launched as 'Cars 2,' 'Zookeeper' and 'Winnie the Pooh' fade, and opposite a slew of movies targeted toward teenagers and grown-ups. The three dimensional factor assisted a great deal too, accountable for 45 percent from the 'Smurfs' haul. Which live-action/CGI hybrid cars did perfectly recently, even without large human stars - see 'Hop,' 'Yogi Bear,' and also the 'Alvin and also the Chipmunks' movies - while previous western/fantasy/sci-fi mashups have incorporated such equine-apples as 'Jonah Hex' and 'Wild Wild West.' 'Smurfs' continues to have a lengthy approach to take to create up its believed $110 million budget, but there will not be lots of family competition for that relaxation from the summer time, therefore the small blue military may go the length. However, it's searching just like a lengthy shot for 'Cowboys' to recoup its believed $163 million budget, especially with a brand new genre contender, 'Rise from the Planet from the Apes,' tossing a blueberry peel in the path next weekend. Last week's champion, 'Captain America: The Very First Avenger,' fell hard from the cowboy/alien/Smurf onslaught. It gained an believed $24.9 million, lower 62 percent from the debut the other day, landing in third place. (Commentators had expected another-week drop around 50 %, to about $32 million.) The film has a solid 10-day total of $116.8 million, but an autumn that steep indicates that supersoldier Steve Rogers' legs aren't that strong. In 4th place, 'Harry Potter and also the Deathly Hallows, Part 2' created an believed $21.9 million. In the third weekend, it fell 54 percent, by what was expected. Its domestic total up to now is $318.5 million. Overseas, it's gained $645.3 million, for any worldwide total of $963.8 million. It's only a few days prior to the film beats the $974.8 million worldwide gross gained by 'Harry Potter and also the Sorcerer's Stone' in 2001 (still the franchise's greatest hit) and before it might be just the ninth movie ever to create a lot more than $1 billion. 'The Smurfs' wasn't the only real new movie to outshine anticipation. 'Crazy, Stupid, Love' opened up in fifth place by having an believed $19.3 million, beating forecasts close to $16 to $18 million. Even though movie opened up inside a market saturated with adult-oriented comedies, that one boasted decent reviews, the star energy of Steve Carell and Ryan Gosling's abs. Overall, the 2010 box office is gradually making up ground to 2010's earnings. The space between 2011's year-to-date grosses and also the same figure this time around last year is lower to five.2 percent, or $$347.8 million. The This summer outperformed last This summer by $78.3 million, up by 5.9 percent. 'Cowboys & Aliens' - Trailer The entire top ten: 1. 'Cowboys & Aliens,' $36.206 million (3,750 screens), era 2. 'The Smurfs,' $36.200 million (3,395), era 3. 'Captain America: The Very First Avenger,' $24.9 million (3,715), $116.8 million total 4. 'Harry Potter and also the Deathly Hallows, Part 2,' $21.9 million (4,145), $318.5 million 5. 'Crazy, Stupid, Love,' $19.3 million (3,020), era 6. 'Friends With Benefits,' $9.3 million (2,926), $38.two million 7. 'Horrible Bosses,' $7.a million (2,510), $96.two million 8. 'Transformers: Dark from the Moon,' $6. million (2,604), $337.9 million 9. 'Zookeeper,' $4.two million (2,418), $68.7 million 10. 'Cars 2,' $2.3 million (1,763), $182.a million Follow Gary Susman on Twitter: @garysusman.