Cowboys, aliens, Indiana Jones and James Bond all in one movie, to be directed by the guy who helmed Iron Man. What could go wrong? Wouldn’t you greenlight that idea? Well, Brian Grazer did and now regrets that.
Cowboys & Aliens, released in 2011, is one of the biggest duds in Grazer’s incredible Hollywood career. So it shouldn’t be surprising that it was one of the projects that came up when he was asked about his “mulligans” in an interview with The Atlantic.
“I don't like cowboys, or aliens! But there were a lot of superstars involved with it—Ron Howard; Steven Spielberg; the director of Iron Man, Jon Favreau,” Grazer recalled.
It turns out that Grazer was just as dumbfounded by the idea of mixing cowboys and aliens and literally calling the movie Cowboys & Aliens.
“I remember having this one meeting, an early meeting, and they're talking about the title, Cowboys and Aliens,” Grazer said. “I said, 'We aren't really calling it that, are we?' [The others said] 'Yeah, of course we are!' I was going, I don't get this at all.”
Cowboys & Aliens was released by Universal and cost a whopping $163 million to make. Even though the cast featured Harrison Ford, Daniel Craig and Olivia Wilde, the film struggled to get ahead of The Smurfs during the summer of 2011. It finished with just $100.2 million at the box office.
Grazer’s more successful efforts include A Beautiful Mind, 24, Arrested Development, Frost/Nixon, and Empire. When you have over 150 credits on your resume, you’re bound to make a flop or two.