Passover is my springtime holiday, but who doesn’t indulge in some Peeps come Easter? The Washington Post celebrates that yummy time of year packed with sugary chicks and bunnies with a Peeps Diorama Contest. This year was the sixth installment and while the big winner was “OccuPeep D.C.,” of the hundreds of entries, quite a few were movie related, and pretty impressive looking, too!

Of the 34 dioramas featured in their “Peeps in Movies” slideshow, naturally, a few hit Panem for some Hunger Games inspired designs, one of which is actually kind of bloody. There’s also a couple of Titanic entries in there and even one dedicated to The Help called “Sometimes Peep Happens.” However, had I had the opportunity to crown a winning movie Peep, it’d undoubtedly be the recreation of the Bridesmaids poster, “Brides Peeps.” Enjoy the holidays this weekend and check out some of the Peeps dioramas after the jump.

The premise of Jon Favreau’s Cowboys & Aliens is readily apparent from the title, and with a cast that includes leads Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Sam Rockwell, Olivia Wilde, and genre figures like Clancy Brown, Walton Goggins and Keith Carradine it’s got the right stars for a modern western. And yet the film struggled at the box office and barely crossed the hundred million dollar mark. In the age of the super-expensive blockbuster, this was a misfire. Of course marketing can always be blamed, but after watching the film it easy to see why it struggled to make an impression. As a genre mash-up, it’s not enough of one or the other to be satisfying. Our review of Cowboys & Aliens on Blu-ray follows after the jump.

Looks like summer 2011 had one more blockbuster left after all.  Cowboys and Aliens may have been a late-July disappointment but, so far, Fox’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes is performing more like a June release than your typical August afterthought.  Surpassing all early projections, the sci-fi vehicle took in an estimated $54 million from 3,648 locations for an easy number one at the US box office.

Looks like the marketing got it right: this weekend the apes will rise.  Fox’s modern entry in the classic Planet of the Apes franchise – Rise of the Planet of the Apes – opened on Friday with $19.75 million from 3,648 locations.  That puts the prequel /remake /reboot on track for a three day estimate of between $45 and $50 million.  Not only is that significantly above early projections for the film, but it is also well over what last weekend’s higher-budgeted Cowboys and Aliens pulled in for its (just barely) number one debut over The Smurfs.  After missing out on that top spot, the family film went on to beat the smurf out of Cowboys and Aliens all week long; including Friday where The Smurfs placed second.  Though statistically tied for third place, the weekend’s second new release is a big disappointment no matter how you slice it.  The R-rated comedy The Change-Up opened with an estimated $4.7 million from 2,913 locations and is not expected to make even the modest mid-teens that Universal projected.  Details and analysis tomorrow.

At the moment the estimates for the weekend’s two top films are dead even: a box office rarity.  Both Cowboys and Aliens and The Smurfs are claiming estimates of $36.2 million – a figure that is slightly embarrassing for one film and a near miracle for the other.

This week the box office gave us Cowboys and Aliens: a huge action movie directed by Jon Favreau, written by Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman and produced by Steven Spielberg. It also gave us The Smurfs: a movie about tiny, animated blue creatures from the eighties which was supposed to play as family-friendly counter-programming to the would-be summer blockbuster. So what’s with that chart?  Opening in 3,750 locations, Cowboys and Aliens was projected to take the weekend with $45-$50 million to The Smurfs $20 million from 3,395 dates.  With Friday’s estimates, however, it now looks like Cowboys will be a first-place disappointment with $40 million while The Smurfs will overperform in second place with at least $30 million.  Meanwhile, the third new release of the week, Crazy Stupid Love, opened in 3,020 locations, taking in an estimated $6.6 million for a weekend projection of $20 million.  Full details and analysis tomorrow.

As you may have noticed, we’ve been a bit flooded with content for the past week thanks in no small part to Comic-Con 2011. We’ve been posting our full-scale coverage from the convention (I’m still trying to catch up on sleep), which has included a large number of interviews. We know some of you might have missed a few of these interviews, so we’ve compiled a sort of “catch up” list of 10 that we thought you might enjoy.

Not all of the interviews are Comic-Con related, but we’ve got conversations with Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson, Damon Lindelof, Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone and Marc Webb, Steve Carell, Patrick Stewart, Don Cheadle, Neil Patrick Harris and Jayma Mays, Nicolas Winding Refn, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, Don Cheadle and Kate Beckinsale. Hit the jump for some quick recaps and links to the full interviews.

With Cowboys & Aliens hitting theaters tomorrow, yesterday afternoon I sat down with screenwriters/producers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci for an extended interview.  During our wide ranging conversation, we discussed Comic-Con, Cowboys & Aliens, balancing the western genre with Sci-Fi, Harrison Ford, Kurtzman’s directorial debut Welcome to People (which stars Chris Pine, Olivia Wilde and Elizabeth Banks), Hawaii Five-0, Fringe, the potential for TV show crossovers, the Star Trek sequel, 3D, Ender’s Game, the Star Trek video game (which takes place after the first movie), and so much more.  Hit the jump to either read or listen to the interview.

With director Jon Favreau’s Cowboys & Aliens on the verge of hitting theaters, Universal has released the EPK (electronic press kit) which includes 4 movie clips, 2 featurettes (A Look Inside and Western Meets SciFi) and over seven minutes of behind the scenes footage from when they were making the movie (B-Roll).  If you’re trying to stay spoiler free, I’d advise you to avoid watching these videos.  However, if you want to see a lot of cool looking footage from a movie I can’t wait to see, hit the jump.

Universal has released the first two clips and a new featurette for director Jon Favreau’s Cowboys & Aliens. Starring Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Olivia Wilde, Sam Rockwell, and Paul Dano, the film is set in 1873 Arizona Territory and tells the story of a man with no recollection of his past (Craig) as he helps the town he wandered into stave off an alien invasion. Within the first clips of the film, we get a look at Craig and Ford as they “discuss” their seemingly inevitable partnership. All signs seem to indicate that everyone on board is playing the tough western tone straight even amidst the sci-fi elements of the film. Combine this with the line “I don’t know what it is, but it’s bleeding,” and I think Favreau and company have a winner on their hands.

Hit the jump to check out the clips and featurette which showcases commentary from producer Ron Howard, Favreau, Craig, Ford, and Wilde amongst others. Cowboys & Aliens hits theaters on July 29th.

Director Jon Favreau continues his unconventional (and totally great) promotional campaign for Cowboys & Aliens with another interview with one of the people involved in the film. Favreau has been doing candid, intimate interviews for the past couple of weeks instead of the typical “behind-the-scenes” videos a studio puts out in anticipation of a film’s release. He began with Harrison Ford, and last week posted his interview with Steven Speilberg, Ron Howard and Brian Grazer. If you missed either of those conversations, I highly suggest you check them out.

This week Favreau sits down with the lovely Olivia Wilde. They talk about horse-riding accidents on set, Tron: Legacy, her work in Haiti, The Change-Up, and Welcome to People. Cowboys & Aliens opens July 29th.

Director Jon Favreau is taking a slightly different approach to the marketing materials for Cowboys & Aliens. Eschewing the traditional EPK (electronic press kit) format of bland, quick cut behind-the-scenes interviews, the director sat down with the extremely talented members of the Cowboys & Aliens cast and crew for some extended, candid and wide-ranging interviews.

We brought you his interview with Harrison Ford last week, and this week Favreau sits down with C&A producers Ron Howard and Brian Grazer and executive producer Steven Spielberg. The conversations range from Spielberg’s Jaws, to Howard’s Far and Away, and sneaking onto studio lots as young men. Spielberg also tells a fantastic John Ford story. Hit the jump to check out the second installment of interviews. Cowboys & Aliens hits theaters July 29^th.

A new featurette for the upcoming sci-fi/western Cowboys & Aliens has been released. The video includes a number of the creatives involved with the film, including producers Steven Spielberg and Ron Howard, and director Jon Favreau. If you’re trying to avoid spoilers, there’s no need to worry. The featurette doesn’t include any footage beyond what’s been shown in the trailers, and the filmmakers basically just talk about the general idea behind the film. A sci-fi property that’s not a sequel and blends genres with a Western is no easy sell, but the marketing campaign has been pretty spot-on so far.

Hit the jump to check out the featurette. Cowboys & Aliens stars Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Olivia Wilde, Paul Dano, Clancy Brown, and Sam Rockwell.  The film opens (in 2D!) on July 29th.

A new trailer for Jon Favreau’s Cowboys & Aliens has hit the web. This one debuted at last week’s Spike Guys’ Choice Awards, and features a lot of the same footage from previous trailers, but also includes a couple new shots as well. We get our first look at Paul Dano’s character, and we also get a peek at some sort of alien structure. Personally, I’m thrilled that Favreau isn’t giving the whole film away in the marketing. Everything I see from this flick just makes me more excited to finally see it. Starring Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Olivia Wilde, Sam Rockwell, and Paul Dano, Cowboys & Aliens hits theaters on July 29th.

Hit the jump to check out the new trailer.

The theatrical trailer for Jon Favreau’s Cowboys & Aliens is now available online, and boy is it a doozy. I really love how the film has a straight western vibe to it, which strangely doesn’t feel contradictory to the sci-fi elements. We get much more of a sense of the plot through this new trailer, and quite a bit more of Olivia Wilde’s character. The action looks fantastic, and I’m loving the interaction of Ford, Craig and Rockwell’s characters. This marketing campaign keeps knocking it out of the park. Starring Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Olivia Wilde, Sam Rockwell, and Paul Dano, Cowboys & Aliens hits theaters on July 29th.

Hit the jump to check the trailer out for yourself.