A weekly program focusing on the arts and entertainment

Arts and Entertainment Editor Bob Sokolsky says it doesn’t occur very often, but it always does happen. Eventually, he notes, a film producer comes to the conclusion that audiences grow tired of the same old same old.

So a turn is made to other categories and inevitably, someone comes up with a western.

But, Sokolsky points out, these westerns come with a few different twists. Like the one displayed in “Cowboys and Aliens,” scheduled to open next week in area theaters, displaying a wild new musical theme.

It also has something of a traditional hero, a mysterious stranger who wanders into a remote frontier town, not knowing his name or how he got there. But he is the one who has to take control when outer space aliens suddenly attack.

Sokolsky says the film is certain to pave the way for some similar features, pointing out that a new “Lone Ranger” is already in preliminary phases. No word yet as to whether it will dare stray from that hero’s musical theme.