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EXCLUSIVE: Are these one-sheets for two DreamWorks Studios movies too similar? 
I’m told that Cowboys And Aliens director Jon Favreau thinks so. And this morning Universal and DreamWorks even had a talk about it. So look above at the teaser one-sheets for Cowboys & Aliens about aliens on earth for Universal/DreamWorks for release July 2011, and I Am Number Four about aliens on earth for Disney/DreamWorks for release February 2011. An insider emails me: ”Cowboys & Aliens finished their one-sheet designed by Universal and approved by everyone, including DreamWorks. A month later, DreamWorks posts their new poster for I Am Number Four. Jon Favreau went nuts at DreamWorks.” Interestingly, an exec at DreamWorks just told me there will be a 2nd “look” debuted soon (see one-sheet to the right) “that will make up the bulk of the campaign. And we don’t think audiences will have any difficulty distinguishing between the two.”
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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If you had Daniel Craig’s ass in your film, you’d put it on your one sheet too.
No kidding. It’s a beautiful thing.
touche.
Yes, if “terrible” and “hack” and “boring” can be interpreted as being the same as “similar”, then he’s got a point. I think a black slate with a title would be more interesting.
Matt Robillard
I guess they have both came from the same production company and both movies have the same story about aliens, not surprising that their posters might be similar too.
Dear Jon,
Be nicer to writers. Just because you can do it well, doesn’t mean you should treat them like shit and insist on their credits.
And regarding the poster: shut up.
-Steven
I dunno…I think this series jumped the shark when “I Am Number Two” popped up in America’s cinematical swimming pool.
Movie posters used to be art: Apocalypse Now, Excalibur, Dark Crystal, Raiders of the Lost Ark. Bob Peake and Amsel. Now they are all trash with only a couple good ones every 5 years or so, what a shame.
DreamWorks marketing blows, and they’re especially bad with these wannabe franchise-type films. BOTH posters look like swirls of brown pudding with a cheap blue LED highlight. They need to hire someobe from WB, which is doing artful and interesting key art for their event films.
Sorry, I was distracted by Daniel Craig’s fine tushie. What are we talking about again? Oh yeah, I am Number 4 has a Jumper stank to it. I hope it’s really good but it seems like it should be on Syfy or WB instead of in theaters.
I’d recommend to both sides that they use different posters to reduce consumer confusion. In this A.D.D. world, it’s not hard to confuse them. The coloring, positioning and “light-things” in the hands will likely cause consumers to think it’s the same movie. Particularly the hand things- too unique to show up in both posters.
I assume “I am Four” doesn’t also involve cowboys. If it does, I’d be more concerned about the similar story lines and timing.
I’m a big fan of alien pictures since I figure it helps me prep for the inevitable (psst! I think my wife is an alien scout) so looking forward to both movies.
Well said, David.
Lone guys posing dramatically for the picture?
*gasp*
They are much too similar! How ever will our small brains tell the difference between these two films?
The marketing people at DreamWorks are dropping the ball on both of these movies — I’ve seen full-length theatrical trailers for both movies, and still have no idea what they’re ABOUT.
“I am Number Four,” apparently a teenage alien on the run. Great. On the run from whom? Why? What happens if they don’t catch him? What happens if they do catch him? Why are they chasing him in the first place? Where are these aliens from and why are they on earth? All we get is a teenager with glowing palms and some typical alien-type powers like shooting rays out of his hands. Yawn.
“Cowboys and Aliens.” That was a two-minute trailer that told us pretty much nothing about this story except that there are cowboys and aliens in this movie. The aliens are here why? Trying to do what? Never mind about that, DreamWorks won’t tell us. How about the cowboys? What are they all about? Well, they’re grizzled. That’s also all DreamWorks is telling us.
DreamWorks should have learned from “Snakes on a Plane” and “Hot Tub Time Machine” that a gimmicky title isn’t enough to sell a movie. People don’t show up at movies to watch a title, they show up to watch a STORY.
I’m pretty sure the “Cowboys & Aliens” trailer was meant to be a teaser. It wasn’t meant to get you hooked by a story, but by the promise of an experience. The story will be rolled out later as the campaign unfolds.
I’m pretty sure there will be additional posters, too.
And as long as we’re playing this game, compare the C&A poster to the teaser poster for “Unforgiven” from 1992. Somewhat different colors, same concept, same pose.
A bit nutty to make the posters so similar in style. What was Dreamworks thinking? The moody scenery, clouds or fog, and light/darkness, and the orange lettering are all giveaways. Are they lazy at Dreamworks? Or maybe its telling us these movies are almost the same. “aliens on earth” Haven’t we seen this before?
Oh my God, how ridiculous. EVERY movie’s one sheet nowadays looks like this uninspired crap. He wasn’t upset when they showed him THAT? Dude, you accepted someone’s laziest work. Now’s not the time to be acting all artistically dicked.
Favreau needs to get over himself.
And now those behind Rabbit Hole should protest.
Hey John Favreau, maybe you should have looked at the JONAH HEX poster before deciding yours was the most original thing on the planet.
Calling a spade a spade… People in glass houses and all that…
V
Yes, but the JONAH HEX poster is long gone. I don’t think Favreau was being precious about the originality of his movie’s poster. In all likelihood, he just doesn’t want something else that looks like it in the marketplace at the same time.
Oh my God – Jon Favreau being a whiny little bitch? Shocking.
Who isn’t a whiny bitch these days? Everyone’s broke or afraid of going broke.
BLUE AND ORANGE EVERYWHERE
Yes — i noticed exactly the same thing.
Same thing with Tron:Legacy and Skyline.
Every action movie in the world uses Orange/Blue contrast… GI Joe, Jumper, Bourne Identity, Daywatch, A Team, Iron Man… all of them.
If you don’t want your posters looking alike, hire someone besides the laziest marketing team available.
Kinda makes you wonder if they got a bulk rate on VFX for “smokey blue glowing hand/wrist effect”
Yet ANOTHER blue/orange color scheme. Yawn.
One is a junk film that won’t open, even if you moved the decimal place one spot to the left on whatever laughable over/under it will have…
The other has cowboys…
Two COMPLETELY different films.
I think the problem would go away if the studios started using any combination of colours other than orange and blue. It’s getting tiresome.
I dunno, it could be worse…