REVIEW: Zoe Saldana, Colombiana Impress With Crisp, Eye-Popping Action

Shamelessly entertaining when it’s not just silly, Colombiana begins with a young girl trading one shady underworld for another. The first is that of Bogot in 1992, where a deal between two heavies is going so well it can only mean someone’s about to die. That someone is the father of Cataleya (Amandla Stenberg), a schoolgirl who absorbs her father’s goodbye — a speech of family loyalty and legacy so archetypal Al Pacino mutters fragments of it in his sleep — with unblinking shock. “In this world,” an enemy henchman (Jordi Moll) tells her as her parents lay dead, “Smart girls always get what they want.” With that Cataleya’s trance is broken, and a stabbing followed by a spectacular foot chase announces her transformation into a pint-sized badass. The shadow announcement made by that sequence is that “this world” is the brainchild co-writer (with Robert Mark Kamen) and producer Luc Besson. “Vengeance is beautiful,” is Colombiana’s tagline, though it may not be smart, or even particularly specific. The vague provenance of the microchip that Cataleya winds up barfing onto an American embassy desk is part of the film’s passing acknowledgement of everything that is not the body of the adult Cataleya (Zoe Saldana) in head-cracking, lipstick-signing motion. Having slipped the Feds, the orphaned Cataleya buses it to Chicago, where her murderer-for-hire uncle Emilio (Cliff Curtis) lives. When she tells him that she wants to study guns, not geometry, Emilio fires a few frustrated rounds into a playground. The audacity! How could a mere child get the fact that working through one’s grief (Emilio’s son was also killed) by becoming a vengeful assassin means “you have to learn to understand how to be psychological”? And stuff? All you really have to learn to understand about the skills of the grown-up Cataleya is that she has earned the trophy of elite female assassins all over the world: Michael Vartan. By day, Cataleya kills for money — Ponzi schemers and such — but she moonlights as a mortal debt collector, picking off members of the Colombian cartel who killed her parents, one by one. Barefoot and crafty, she savors the elaborate daring of getting booked into a prison just to get a clear shot at a mark being held there overnight. In catsuits, swimsuits, and skimpy underthings, Saldana is as potently elusive as a shadow can be. Cataleya’s trick is staying low to the ground; with feline confidence she slips into ventilation ducts, down sewer grates, and through subway tunnels, never once mistaking herself. The extent to which Cataleya’s life depends on the continuation of the game — the unquenchable killer’s inner life — is not part of this ride. When we do stop for ungainly confrontations with Emilio or Vartan, who plays her clueless boyfriend, the momentum of the pure cinema action scenes is thrown. And man, it is no small momentum. French director Olivier Megaton’s chosen last name (he was born Fontana) is just the first in a long line of things he’s not kidding about. Along with a spectacularly physical performance by Zaldana (although a scene of the anti-heroine shimmying with cool self-satisfaction feels corny and stale compared to the frank, appreciative mirror-gazing of her counterpart in Carlos), Colombiana features some of the best frame-for-frame shots you will see this year. Megaton’s weakness for big money moments feels old-fashioned in the best way: Who needs hyperkinetic camerawork or budget-busting effects when a director knows what to do with a woman, a shark pool, and a big fat drug lord? The action is as originally conceived as it is coherent; if it can’t quite make up for the hoariness of a lone FBI agent (Lennie James) cornering his unlikely killer with the aid of pure coincidence and bollock-y face recognition software, similarly fermented dialogue, and the primal but vacant gaze of its star, Colombiana comes close enough to make you forget to care.

Simon Cowell Breaks Silence on 'X Factor' Lawsuit, Slams 'Idol' Creator Simon Fuller (Exclusive)

Bryan Bedder/Getty ImagesSimon Cowell Simon Cowell has some choice words for American Idol creator Simon Fuller: Keep your hands off The X Factor. Cowell is finally responding to the lawsuit filed in July by Fuller against Fox and producer Fremantle claiming Fuller is owed an executive producer credit and millions of dollars in fees from the Cowell-produced X Factor, which bows in the U.S. in September. "I'm surprised this has happened," Cowell tells The Hollywood Reporter in an interview. "Because you can't give someone an executive producer's title if they didn't executive produce the show." As THR first reported, Fuller sued July 20 in Los Angeles Superior Court claiming he negotiated a hefty executive producer fee and credit on X Factor as part of a settlement of a 2004 copyright-infringement lawsuit against Cowell when X Factor launched in the U.K. At the time, Fuller claimed that X Factor, which had eclipsed Idol in popularity in Britain, was a blatant rip-off of the Idol format. To settle the feud between the two Simons, Fox and Fremantle, which produces both Idol and X Factor, helped broker a deal in which Fuller would end Pop Idol in the UK but Cowell would agree to remain a judge on American Idol for five years and keep X Factor off U.S. television until 2011. The Fuller suit claimed Fox and Fremantle are now refusing to honor that deal and credit him "commesurate with his duties and stature in the entertainment industry." COVER STORY: 'X Factor's' Simon Cowell Reveals He and Cheryl Cole No Longer Speaking But Cowell, who is not a defendant in the suit, tells THR that Fuller never negotiated any deal requiring a credit or fee associated with X Factor. Has Fuller had anything to do with X Factor at all? "No," Cowell reiterates. "It's like me saying I want to be executive producer on The Voice or Project Runway." Credits on movies and television shows can appear for various reasons, irrespective of the amount of work a person actually contributes. Executive producer credits, for instance, often are awarded to those who contributed either money or creative input during the development process. Credits in certain cases can even be the product of a settlement of a lawsuit. But Cowell says the resolution of the X Factor litigation did not grant Fuller any credit rights. EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: Behind the Scenes of THR's X Factor Cover Shoot If not, why did he sue? "Genuinely on this one I haven't got a clue," Cowell tells THR. "It's not part of our settlement agreement, it never was. So I was as surprised as anyone." Cowell's latest comments are another jab in the ongoing international boxing match between the two megarich Simons. Fox, which will air both X Factor this fall and Idol in the spring, is in business with both men, but it is backing Cowell's version of the story in the X Factor litigation. "Mr. Fuller has not been hired, nor performed any duties, on the U.S. version of The X Factor," the network said in a statement when the lawsuit was filed. "His suit seeks payment and credit as an executive producer despite his neither having been approved by the required parties, nor hired, as such. We believe this lawsuit is without merit, and we expect to prevail." PHOTOS: An 'American Idol' to 'X Factor' Timeline Fuller's attorneys have taken issue with Fox and Fremantle's position that they never "approved" him as executive producer under his X Factor settlement agreement, thus denying him the credit and fee. "It is precisely because Fox was contractually obligated to approve Fuller as executive producer and has breached that obligation that the case was filed," Fuller's lawyer Dale Kinsella said in a statement. "Fox appears to be admitting early on that they have breached the agreement. The Fuller lawsuit does not seek an injunction against the broadcast of X Factor, so regardless of the next steps, Cowell can be sure that the legal mess won't derail the show's premeire, set for Sept 20 on Fox. RELATED: PHOTOS: 'The X Factor': First Look at Simon Cowell's New Judging Team PHOTOS: Fox's New Season TV Shows: 'The X Factor,' 'Terra Nova' and More STORY: X Factor Drama: Cheryl Cole Has Offer to Return to Show Email: Matthew.Belloni@thr.com, Shirley.Halperin@thr.com Twitter: @THRMattBelloni, @ShirleyHalperin Simon Cowell American Idol Simon Fuller The X Factor

'Real Steel' Robots Were Trained By Sugar Ray Leonard

"Real Steel" is likely to be the coolest robot boxing movie that's been released (since, well, name another robot boxing movie), and the newest featurette for the film wants to tell you all about why it's going to be a fun adventure to watch. Arguably the biggest draw for audiences is the boxing in the flick, and the new featurette shows off how the filmmakers used motion-capture technology to make their fighting robots seem believable. The folks behind "Real Steel" hired real-life boxers, choreographed by Sugar Ray Leonard, to stand in for the robots, which means the action fans see on the big screen is going to be legit. Of course, there's the human element of the movie to look forward to as well, but I have a feeling Hugh Jackman might be a bit upstaged by his electronic counterpart in "Real Steel." Check out the rest of today's film news after the jump! A New "Underworld: Awakening" Poster Hits The Web Kate Beckinsale invites you in to see "Underworld: Awakening." A poster for the flick, courtesy of FilmWeb, focuses solely on the starlet in her iconic Selene get-up. In true "Underworld" tradition, the poster is a washed-out blue that has become synonymous with the franchise. The poster ditched the title for the film, opting instead to focus on Beckinsale as the lead and the 2012 release date. "The battle continues in 3D," the poster teases. A first trailer for "Underworld: Awakening" hit the web last week. "The Great Gatsby" To Begin Filming Soon Collider had a chance to sit down with "Great Gatsby" star Joel Edgerton, and he had optimistic things to say about the long-in-production project. "We have been sort of in pre-production where we did a really great kind of exploration workshop in New York. Im off on Monday and back to Australia where everything is getting prepped and ready," Edgerton said. "We are going to continue rehearsals and then we start shooting in a few weeks. Then it is all systems go until Christmas. "The Last Exorcism" Not Quite So Final Filmmakers need to be a bit more careful when they come up with titles like "The Last Exorcism" if they're going to want to come up with sequels to their movies. The producers of "The Last Exorcism" are faced with that dilemma right now as they hire Damien Chazelle to write a follow-up to the 2010 hit. The Hollywood Reporter doesn't know what the sequel will be about (or what clever title it will have) but did learn that it is set to go into production in the fall. "The Lady" Teaser Trailer The trailer for Luc Besson's latest, "The Lady," has hit the web at last. Starring Michelle Yeoh and David Thewlis, the biopic tells the story of pro-democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi and her love affair with academic and writer Michael Aris, set against the backdrop of political turmoil. Tell us your thoughts on today's Dailies in the comments section below or on Twitter!

VIDEO: Seth Rogen Mock Joseph Gordon-Levitt's Failing Sex Life in Red Band Clip From 50/50

50/50 is shaping up to be the sweetest, funniest comedy of the fall — and, as a new red band clip featuring stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogen proves, it may also be the sexually frankest. Would you like to learn how to do it froggy-style? Allow Mr. Rogen to curate. NSFW video ahead! Joseph Gordon-Levitt is that rare young actor who is totally self-serious, yet likable and compelling. I can barely reconcile the overtly earnest @hitRECORDjoe part of his persona with the unassuming protagonist we see on screen. He single-handedly made (500) Days of Summer enjoyable despite its trite script, and he is unforgettable in Mysterious Skin. I’m loving his work here, as he conveys uncertainty, unpretentiousness, and — for lack of a better word — reality. Seth Rogen is playing a familiar character for his oeuvre, but he’s also fun. September 30th cannot come fast enough; I can’t stand this dreadful August a second longer. [via Movieweb]

All Quiet on The Western Front

The film follows young Paul Baumer, who during World War I enlists in the Imperial German Army with many of his high school friends, after being indoctrinated by their teacher as to the glory and superiority of German culture. After surviving training camp under the sadistic Corporal Himmelstoss (Ian Holm), the enthusiastic young men board a troop train bound for the front lines. Ominously, at the same moment, they notice another train arriving in town loaded with wounded returning soldiers, who are carried off on stretchers. Once at the front lines, they are placed under the supervision of a pragmatic, yet good-natured older soldier, Stanislaus Katzinsky, called "Kat" (Ernest Borgnine). Kat teaches them how to best take cover, how to catch game for food, and other survival skills. The film focuses on the suffering and tragedy caused by war, particularly the horrors endured by the young men serving in it.

A Streetwise, Stripped-Down Circus Hits NY

NEW YORK (AP) Doing skateboard tricks on a theater stage is usually deeply frowned upon. But at the Union Square Theatre these days, they're not only encouraged they're a big part of the show.During a recent rehearsal of the touring show "Traces," the seven ensemble members practiced flips, jumps and dance moves on and off their boards as they fine-tuned a section of their 90-minute, cardio-intensive circus."Is there any way I can get you guys to drop the boards at the same time?" Gypsy Snider, co-director and co-choreographer, asked from the empty seats. "Let's do it again and drop the boards at the same time."The show rolls into New York for a 10-week stand that combines traditional acrobatic acts juggling, teeterboard, hoop jumping and spinning inside an oversized wheel with street elements such as skateboarding and basketball.Billed as a stripped-down alternative to Cirque du Soleil, there are no costumes or makeup or elaborate sets. The cast six men and one woman interact with the audience when they're not doing things that make your head hurt just watching.Snider, one of the seven founding members of the Montreal-based collective known as 7 Fingers that created "Traces," acts as a gentle taskmaster on this day as opening night approaches, using both English and French to motivate her international cast."Run, run, run, people! This has got to be fast," she says at one point, somewhat annoyed. Another time she is more motherly and encouraging: "Places, people. And music. Cinq, six, sept, huit..."The skateboard scene is designed to be a light moment between some of the more grueling acts. In it, the cast jumps over each other and screeches across the stage with daredevil precision, but they also stop to dance with their boards as if in a Busby Berkeley musical as the song "It's Only a Paper Moon" plays. The show also includes music from Radiohead, Blackalicious and John Zorn.The performers two Americans, one Chinese, one Swiss and three Canadians range in size from the biggest, Mason Ames, who stands at 6 feet and 2 inches and weighs 228 pounds, to Valerie Benoit-Charbonneau, who is 5 feet and 2 inches and 112 pounds, but they're all made from solid muscle. That's important since they never leave the stage and keep doing crazy stunts for an hour and a half. The show has no understudies."The main thing is to try to stay injury-free the whole time. If you have a little sprained ankle and have to do the show every night, it's like super annoying," says Bradley Henderson, 27, who hails from San Francisco.Snider and her six collaborators all ex-Cirque du Soleil members founded 7 Fingers in 2002 and have created shows including "Loft," ''La Vie," ''Psy" and "Patinoire." The show "Traces" has existed in one form or another for five years it was last in New York in 2008 with only five performers and nicely encapsulates the troupe's mission statement of "circus on a human scale."During the show, the performers all dressed in workout wear or street clothes alternate from executing leaps and spins with playing a piano (all had to learn the instrument) or sketching on an overhead projector. At points, the show is like a confessional as the performers step forward to tell the audience who they are."They really wanted to put the emphasis on the artists. They don't want to put us in crazy costumes or makeup. They just want you to be you on stage," says Benoit-Charbonneau, 22, who attended circus school in Montreal for seven years. "That's the beauty of it."The company has found an ideal home in the 499-seat Union Square Theatre on 17th Street, close to another very kinetic, acrobatic show De La Guarda's "Fuerza Bruta: Look Up." Together, the two feed off the neighborhood's mix of hipster, grunge and skate-punk energy."I was walking around New York and just the energy of this city goes together with this show," says Benoit-Charbonneau, a Canadian who during the show often flies through the air like a rag doll.Unlike other circus shows that detest mistakes, 7 Fingers doesn't get too upset if a trick fails. In fact, Snider thinks an audience gets more of an intimate thrill if an acrobat they are getting to know fails and then tries again."There's no sense of embarrassment. They could fall flat on their face and it would be part of the show," she says. "What these kids do is 10 times as exciting than if it were some perfectly choreographed, spectacular, wow-I-could-never-do-that show.""Traces" got a boost last month when the seven performers did a medley of four acts on an episode of "America's Got Talent," spiking Google searches for the show and impressing many bloggers. "Canada's got talent, too, it seems," wrote one.Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. By Mark Kennedy August 4, 2011 PHOTO CREDIT AP Photo/The Hartmann Group/Michael Meseke NEW YORK (AP) Doing skateboard tricks on a theater stage is usually deeply frowned upon. But at the Union Square Theatre these days, they're not only encouraged they're a big part of the show.During a recent rehearsal of the touring show "Traces," the seven ensemble members practiced flips, jumps and dance moves on and off their boards as they fine-tuned a section of their 90-minute, cardio-intensive circus."Is there any way I can get you guys to drop the boards at the same time?" Gypsy Snider, co-director and co-choreographer, asked from the empty seats. "Let's do it again and drop the boards at the same time."The show rolls into New York for a 10-week stand that combines traditional acrobatic acts juggling, teeterboard, hoop jumping and spinning inside an oversized wheel with street elements such as skateboarding and basketball.Billed as a stripped-down alternative to Cirque du Soleil, there are no costumes or makeup or elaborate sets. The cast six men and one woman interact with the audience when they're not doing things that make your head hurt just watching.Snider, one of the seven founding members of the Montreal-based collective known as 7 Fingers that created "Traces," acts as a gentle taskmaster on this day as opening night approaches, using both English and French to motivate her international cast."Run, run, run, people! This has got to be fast," she says at one point, somewhat annoyed. Another time she is more motherly and encouraging: "Places, people. And music. Cinq, six, sept, huit..."The skateboard scene is designed to be a light moment between some of the more grueling acts. In it, the cast jumps over each other and screeches across the stage with daredevil precision, but they also stop to dance with their boards as if in a Busby Berkeley musical as the song "It's Only a Paper Moon" plays. The show also includes music from Radiohead, Blackalicious and John Zorn.The performers two Americans, one Chinese, one Swiss and three Canadians range in size from the biggest, Mason Ames, who stands at 6 feet and 2 inches and weighs 228 pounds, to Valerie Benoit-Charbonneau, who is 5 feet and 2 inches and 112 pounds, but they're all made from solid muscle. That's important since they never leave the stage and keep doing crazy stunts for an hour and a half. The show has no understudies."The main thing is to try to stay injury-free the whole time. If you have a little sprained ankle and have to do the show every night, it's like super annoying," says Bradley Henderson, 27, who hails from San Francisco.Snider and her six collaborators all ex-Cirque du Soleil members founded 7 Fingers in 2002 and have created shows including "Loft," ''La Vie," ''Psy" and "Patinoire." The show "Traces" has existed in one form or another for five years it was last in New York in 2008 with only five performers and nicely encapsulates the troupe's mission statement of "circus on a human scale."During the show, the performers all dressed in workout wear or street clothes alternate from executing leaps and spins with playing a piano (all had to learn the instrument) or sketching on an overhead projector. At points, the show is like a confessional as the performers step forward to tell the audience who they are."They really wanted to put the emphasis on the artists. They don't want to put us in crazy costumes or makeup. They just want you to be you on stage," says Benoit-Charbonneau, 22, who attended circus school in Montreal for seven years. "That's the beauty of it."The company has found an ideal home in the 499-seat Union Square Theatre on 17th Street, close to another very kinetic, acrobatic show De La Guarda's "Fuerza Bruta: Look Up." Together, the two feed off the neighborhood's mix of hipster, grunge and skate-punk energy."I was walking around New York and just the energy of this city goes together with this show," says Benoit-Charbonneau, a Canadian who during the show often flies through the air like a rag doll.Unlike other circus shows that detest mistakes, 7 Fingers doesn't get too upset if a trick fails. In fact, Snider thinks an audience gets more of an intimate thrill if an acrobat they are getting to know fails and then tries again."There's no sense of embarrassment. They could fall flat on their face and it would be part of the show," she says. "What these kids do is 10 times as exciting than if it were some perfectly choreographed, spectacular, wow-I-could-never-do-that show.""Traces" got a boost last month when the seven performers did a medley of four acts on an episode of "America's Got Talent," spiking Google searches for the show and impressing many bloggers. "Canada's got talent, too, it seems," wrote one.Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Critics Boo Oprah's Honorary Oscar

Discovery Oprah, meet Oscar. On Tuesday the board of governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voted to give Oprah Winfrey an honorary Oscar at the Nov. 12 Governor's Awards. It's called the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, given to an "individual in the motion picture industry whose humanitarian efforts have brought credit to the industry.'" Not everyone is applauding the move, because Winfrey hasn't exactly shown a laserlike focus on movies since her 1986 Oscar nomination for The Color Purple. "She's in the motion picture industry?" New York Film Critics Circle chair John Anderson asks THR sarcastically. "It seems like a shameless bid for a ratings boost -- although once they start showing clips from Beloved and The Color Purple the numbers will plummet." Many charge that giving Winfrey the philanthropic award is really an attempt to get her to be philanthropic to the academy, by showing up at the February Oscar broadcast as well as the untelevised Governor's Awards. The Los Angeles Times' Patrick Goldstein called Winfrey's award "boneheaded." Even a Winfrey fan like former NWFCC chair Armond White, who enthusiastically voted for her in the 1986 National Society of Film Critics Awards and the New York Film Critics Circle Awards, was appalled. "Does this newly announced Academy prize prove that Oprah means the same thing to Hollywood as past Jean Hersholt Award winners Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, Lew Wasserman, Charlton Heston?" White asks THR rhetorically. "Is this just another way for the academy to continue to grovel for TV ratings?" Yes, probably. And Winfrey could sure use some Oscar-fueled ratings boost for her fledgling Oprah Winfrey Network. Winfrey's award, along with the honorary Oscar that will be given to James Earl Jones, also serves to soothe the Academy's probable guilt over the much-criticized chronic absence of black faces among the regular Oscar nominees. Winfrey is the second black Hersholt winner after 1995's Quincy Jones. "Is the Academy kowtowing to the silly complaints that no black actors were nominated this year?" says White. "The Oscars are supposed to be about the works Hollywood admires, not a score-keeping mechanism for ethnic and racial equality. By that standard the Oscars fail Native Americans, Asians, Africans, Scandinavians, and Latin Americans every year. I'm afraid those complaints were just media hype, an attempt by some to hold the Oscars hostage to political correctness." It seems unlikely that Winfrey (or the exceedingly eminent actor Jones) is a mere example of PC tokenism. But so far, her Hersholt isn't winning many awards in the court of public opinion. Oprah Winfrey Academy Awards Oscars 2012

'Harry Potter' Makes $1 Billion Worldwide: Box Office Report This summer 29-31

The greatest news in the box office a few days ago had nothing related to the mind-to-mind fight between alien-wrangling cowboys and three-dimensional toys, though we'll reach that, obviously. Rather, it had been the 4th-place film, 'Harry Potter and also the Deathly Hallows, Part 2,' that conjured head lines using its $1 billion worldwide haul. Warner Bros. introduced on Sunday the franchise finale took over as ninth movie ever to mix that threshold, as well as the greatest hit within the franchise, beating the $974.8 million worldwide gross gained by 'Harry Potter and also the Sorcerer's Stone' in 2001. Meanwhile, Universal professionals needed to be thinking about, Exactly what the smurf? 'Cowboys & Aliens' rode into the city, guns a-blazin', basically sure to lasso the very best place. 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. 'The Smurfs' - Trailer No. 3 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. 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' gained 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, Warner Bros. is declaring earnings of $690 million, for any worldwide total of $1.009 billion. 'Deathly Hallows' becomes the very first from the eight 'Potter' pictures, in support of the ninth movie ever, to top $1 billion. It is the second movie this summer time to become listed on that exclusive club May's 'Pirates from the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides' has gained $1.033 billion. Not modifying for inflation, 'Deathly Hallows' has become the eighth greatest-grossing movie ever (it's slightly in front of 'The Dark Dark night,' with $1.002 billion), as the current 'Pirates' is within sixth place. '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 domestic 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.