CinemaNerdz

Weekend Box-Office: Contagion Stops The Help Cold

Seth Paul

The Help finally appears to have met its match; the new Steven Soderbergh thriller Contagion lived up to its name and managed to outdo all comers this weekend, picking up an estimated $23.1 million, while The Help made a little over a third of that, an estimated $8.7 million. Nothing to feel bad about, though…in five weeks The Help has cleaned up at the box office with a $137 million gross (and likely plenty more weeks to come). And it did much better than the other newcomer, Warrior, which made an estimated $5.6 million. Keep an eye on all three films…each is receiving excellent reviews and some may be Oscar contenders.

There’s good news for The Debt, also critically well-received, as it turned a profit for week two, earning an estimated $4.9 million which just raises the movie into the black. And despite a flip-flop in Top 10 standing, Colombiana is proving fairly disappointing with an estimated $4 million, leaving it over $10 million short of its budgetary costs in three weeks, while Rise of the Planet of the Apes only made an estimated $3.9 million, but has long since entered the realm of blockbuster with $167.8 million in domestic gross. Amazingly, it is currently in second place overall in the Planet of the Apes franchise, ranking behind the Tim Burton 2001 remake in domestic take, despite that one’s reputation as a critical failure.

The bottom of the list seems to prove the adage that gimmicks can only go so far against miniscule budgets and story…Shark Night 3D may rank higher than Apollo 18 and Our Idiot Brother with an estimated $3.5 million, but the tepid PG-13 horror film has only made $14.8 million overall with a $25 million budget. Meanwhile, the poorly received but $5 million budgeted Apollo 18 made an estimated $2.9 million, already showing a decent profit with $15 million domestic gross; Our Idiot Brother, also budgeted at $5 million, made an estimated $2.8 million and has done good with a $21.4 million return. And, of course, Spy Kids 4D: All the Time in the World tried to lure audiences with its Scratch-n-Sniff cards, but at an estimated $2.5 million this weekend and $34 million total, it is leagues behind its predecessors in both earnings and, by the reviews, fun.

Weekend Box-Office (September 2 – September 5)

  1. Contagion…$23.1 million
  2. The Help…$8.7 million
  3. Warrior…$5.6 million
  4. The Debt…$4.9 million
  5. Colombiana…$4 million
  6. Rise of the Planet of the Apes…$3.9 million
  7. Shark Night 3D…$3.5 million
  8. Apollo 18…$2.9 million
  9. Our Idiot Brother…$2.8 million
  10. Spy Kids 4D: All the Time in the World…$2.5 million

Seth Paul

When not failing to write novels and screenplays, box-office guru Seth writes humorous comedy tracks for films under the name "The One Man Band" that can be found at Rifftrax.com. Although, he has recently succeeded in writing the novella "Jack Alan and the Case of the Not-Exactly Rocket Scientists," available as an eBook on Amazon. He is also the English voice of Zak in "Zak McKracken: Between Time and Space."
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