Cowboys & Aliens, Universal’s intended blockbuster for next summer based on a troubled comic book, has run into yet another problem: audiences think it’s a comedy when seeing the trailer.

Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig in Cowboys & Aliens
Deceived by a title and a premise that many find inherently comic, potential viewers must now cope with a realization that [director Jon] Favreau wasn’t kidding when he told fans at the Comic-Con International convention last July that he planned to mix a “by-the-book, right-down-the-middle western” of the kind once made by Sergio Leone and John Ford, with really scary science fiction, like “Alien” or “Predator”.
The article goes on to cite the failure of the Wild Wild West remake as causing a change in plans for the film — which was originally intended to be more humorous, in the style of Men in Black, an action comedy — to feature a more serious tone.
Universal’s got quite an uphill struggle here. I know I’d be more likely to see a movie with a sense of humor, but this seems instead to want to be boys’ action, which bores me if there aren’t some lighter touches. I’m not sure anyone is really looking forward to this, although it’s a great premise, if handled appropriately.
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