Surprise box office tie for "Cowboys", "Smurfs"

Costumed ''Smurfs'' characters stand on the main trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange, after ringing the opening bell for the Exchange's session July 29, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Mike Segar

Costumed ''Smurfs'' characters stand on the main trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange, after ringing the opening bell for the Exchange's session July 29, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Mike Segar

The tiny blue "Smurfs" battled big-name, big-budget "Cowboys & Aliens" to a surprising tie at the domestic weekend box office with each film ringing up an estimated $36.2 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates on Sunday. "The Smurfs" live-action and animated 3D film drew families to the latest adventure of the classic Belgian cartoon characters and grossed higher-than-expected sales. "Cowboys & Aliens" fell short of pre-release estimates from box-office watchers.

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The totals are estimates of ticket sales from United States and Canadian theatres for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The leader will not be known until actual sales are tallied on Monday.
Going into the weekend, "Cowboys & Aliens" was seen easily topping box-office charts with starpower from James Bond actor Daniel Craig and "Indiana Jones" star Harrison Ford, plus director Jon Favreau from the hit "Iron Man" series and Steven Spielberg among the producers. The film is set in the Wild West in 1873, when a spaceship arrives in Arizona and runs into a posse of cowboys.
The movie offered "a fresh and unique concept," said Nikki Rocco, president of distribution for Universal Pictures, a division of Comcast Corp that released the film. "It was a bet worth taking with these filmmakers."
A lower-than-expected total for "Cowboys & Aliens" collided with a bigger draw from "The Smurfs," a movie that revived characters that debuted more than 50 years ago.
"In the summer, family films are a hot commodity," Paul Dergarabedian, box office analyst with Hollywood.com, said of the "Smurfs" success.
Rory Bruer, president of worldwide distribution for Columbia Pictures, said the "Smurfs" film "performed beyond our expectations." Columbia Pictures is the unit of Sony Corp that released the movie.
Third place for the weekend went to superhero flick "Captain America: The First Avenger" with $24.9 million in domestic ticket sales during its second weekend in theatres.
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -- Part 2," hitting its third weekend, finished fourth with $21.9 million. The final installment of the popular boy wizard series topped $1 billion in worldwide sales to date, the ninth film in history to hit that mark, distributor Warner Bros. said.
"Crazy, Stupid, Love," a new romantic comedy starring Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling and Julianne Moore, took the No. 5 spot in the U.S. and Canada with a solid $19.3 million.
"Captain America" was released by Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom. Time Warner Inc unit Warner Bros released "Crazy, Stupid, Love" and "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -- Part 2."

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Japan finmin Noda emerging as key PM candidate - paper

 







 Japanese Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda is emerging as a key candidate to replace Naoto Kan as prime minister and head of the ruling Democratic Party.



Senior ruling party officials plan to nominate Noda as a candidate for the post in a party election to choose its new leader when Kan steps down and Noda himself is keen to run, the paper said.
The officials hope the choice of Noda, in charge of budget preparations, may smooth passage of bills needed to issue bonds to fund a significant portion of the current fiscal year's state budget, as well as the second extra budget for reconstruction from the devastating earthquake in March, the paper said.
Noda, a fiscal hawk, has called for the need to rein in Japan's huge public debt possibly with tax hikes.
Kan, struggling to contain a nuclear crisis at Tokyo Electric Power Co's crippled Fukushima plant and rebuild Japan's northeast from the devastating March 11 quake and tsunami, last week survived a no-confidence vote by saying he would step down.
He did not say when, though, and rivals in his own party as well as the opposition want him to go soon, clearing the way for a coalition.
Noda has been touted as among possible contenders to replace Kan, alongside Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku and former foreign minister Seiji Maehara.

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