Hollywood's Query: Cowboys, Aliens, Smurfs Or Apes?

NPR | By Brent Baughman

Published August 7, 2011 at 1:21 PM EDT

Signs of a battle: Smurfs and apes spar with an upcoming movie, <em>Columbiana</em>, outside Los Angeles' ArcLight Hollywood theater. — Signs of a battle: Smurfs and apes spar with an upcoming movie, *Columbiana*, outside Los Angeles' ArcLight Hollywood theater.

Weekends on All Things Considered just wrapped up a week of production in Los Angeles, and we found out it's hard to spend much time here without movies on the mind.

At the box office this month so far, there has been one weird creature flick after another battling for the top spot. Cowboys and Aliens just about tied The Smurfs last weekend. But this weekend's Rise of the Planet of the Apes smashed them both.

We hit the streets outside L.A.'s luxurious ArcLight Hollywood theater to pose one simple question: Cowboys, aliens, Smurfs or apes?

Brent Baughman

Brent Baughman is a senior producer in the Programming division at NPR, where he works on new and existing podcasts.

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