With the recent casting of Daniel Craig and Olivia Wilde in director Jon Favreau's (Iron Man, Elf) Cowboys and Aliens movie, it was clear things were moving full steam ahead on Favreau's next project after Iron Man 2.  While the release date was scheduled for sometime in 2011, with Battleship sailing to 2012, Universal has announced Cowboys and Aliens will take over the July 29, 2011 release date.

What that means is...Comic-Con 2011 is going to be awesome.

More after the jump:

Cowboys and Aliens is scheduled to start filming this July and it's been written by Roberto Orci/Alex Kurtzman (Transformers, Star Trek) and Damon Lindelof (Lost).  The film is set in Arizona during the 1800s and follows a group of cowboys and Apache Indians as they band together to fight hostile aliens.

While it's unclear if Favreau is going 3D with C&A, I'm going to guess he will.  After all, aliens invading the planet always looks better in 3D.

While I haven't read the comic it's based on, with the insane talent on this project, this is easily one of my most anticipated films of 2011.

With Favreau getting ready to start promoting Iron Man 2 in the coming months, we're going to hear a lot of news about Cowboys and Aliens soon. Get ready.

Thanks to the wrap for the heads up on the release date.