The Lone Ranger rides... into turnaround

Both Mike Fleming and The Hollywood Reporter wonder: Did Disney pull the plug on The Lone Ranger because Cowboys & Aliens under-performed at the box-office?

Happy Birthday, Harrison Ford

Yeah, he turns 69 today. And, sure, he admits that his agent thought he might be too old to "get" Cowboys & Aliens. But you know what?  Jon Favreau told me that Harrison Ford can still do some serious ass-kicking. And I believe him.

Opening today at a newsstand near you: Cowboys & Aliens

The Wild West will get a little wilder this summer when Cowboys & Aliens appears at theaters and drive-ins everywhere. But you don’t have to wait until the July 29 opening date to get the inside story on this eagerly awaited sci-fi adventure film. You can read my up-close and behind-the-scenes preview in the July issue of Cowboys & Indians, now on sale at fine newsstands everywhere.

Another Super Bowl spot: Cowboys & Aliens

OK, I'm ready to buy my opening-day ticket for this right now.

First look at Cowboys & Aliens

The sci-fi Western Cowboys & Aliens isn't slated to open until next year -- literally, July 29 -- but we've already received the first officially released image from the film: Daniel Craig (a.k.a. James Bond) as Jake Lonergan, a lone cowboy who leads an uprising against extraterrestrial invaders. Looks here like he got his hands on some of the enemy's weaponry.

Cowboys and aliens and Downey, oh my!

Fresh from his success as the super-heroic Iron Man, Robert Downey Jr. may continue riding tall along the comeback trail as the star of... no kidding... Cowboys & Aliens. Based on the graphic novel by Fred Van Lente and Andrew Foley, the sci-fi Western centers on a battle between Apache warriors and paleface settlers that is interrupted by the crash-landing of a spaceship near Silver City, Arizona. Downey currently is in negotiations to play Zeke Jackson, a notorious gunslinger (and Union Army vet) who leads an alliance of settlers and Apaches in a counter-attack against invading extraterrestrials bent on enslaving (or destroying) all Earthlings. The movie is tentatively set as a 2010 release.

Update, June 17: Evidently, some folks aren't too happy about the "allegorical" content of this "liberal Hollywood" movie. They're also unhappy about the "blatant foolishness" of the equally offensive Tombstone. No kidding.