Premier Pop C Pop Culture News – Movies, Comics, Television, Books, Toys, Games, and More The expected powerhouse ‘Cowboys & Aliens’ got a surprise at the box office when it finished the weekend in a dead heat with ‘The Smurfs.’ Both films earned $36,206,250 for the weekend, far below the expected earnings for ‘Cowboys & Aliens’ but higher than predicted for ‘The Smurfs.’ Aside from showing the flaws in the studios’ methods of measuring interest, it also showcased the growing irrelevance of San Diego Comic-Con. Cowboys premeried at the show to raves, but the film skewed older than that audience would have indicated.
The Top-12 grossing motion pictures for the weekend, per data collected as of Sunday, July 31, 2011 are as follows:
| Rank | Film Name | Distributor Name | Weekend Revenue | Cume Revenue | Locs | Loc Avg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Smurfs, The | Sony | 36,206,250 | 36,206,250 | 3,395 | 10,664 |
| 2 | Cowboys & Aliens | Universal | 36,206,250 | 36,206,250 | 3,750 | 9,655 |
| 3 | Captain America: The First Avenger | Paramount | 24,905,000 | 116,772,268 | 3,715 | 6,703 |
| 4 | Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows II | Warner Bros. | 21,925,000 | 318,459,509 | 4,145 | 5,289 |
| 5 | Crazy, Stupid, Love | Warner Bros. | 19,300,000 | 19,300,000 | 3,020 | 6,390 |
| 6 | Friends With Benefits | Sony | 9,300,000 | 38,200,281 | 2,926 | 3,178 |
| 7 | Horrible Bosses | Warner Bros. | 7,100,000 | 96,201,552 | 2,510 | 2,828 |
| 8 | Transformers: Dark Of The Moon | Paramount | 5,970,000 | 337,891,414 | 2,604 | 2,292 |
| 9 | Zookeeper | Sony | 4,200,000 | 68,730,840 | 2,418 | 1,736 |
| 10 | Cars 2 | Disney | 2,301,000 | 182,070,548 | 1,763 | 1,305 |
| 11 | Winnie The Pooh | Disney | 1,751,000 | 22,408,865 | 1,632 | 1,072 |
| 12 | Midnight in Paris | Sony Pictures Classics | 1,219,758 | 46,914,777 | 471 | 2,589 |
