CinemaNerdz

Weekend Box-Office: The Help Shows No Sign of Slowing Down

Seth Paul

The Help continues to hold the top slot for the third week in a row, adding an estimated $19 million to its running total of $123 million over the Labor Day weekend. It also makes waves in that, despite being at the box office for four weeks, it actually jumped in revenue from the previous week (even if one doesn’t count the holiday). The competition wasn’t even close: all three major newcomers had less than stellar openings, especially for a holiday weekend, with none making over $15 million. The best of them was The Debt, the action thriller starring Helen Mirren and Sam Worthington; it made an estimated $12 million (for a somewhat embarrassing $14 million haul with a Wednesday opening head start), although it is getting somewhat favorable reviews. Frankly, it did not do much better than the panned “found footage” space horror Apollo 18 with an estimated $10.7 million as well as Shark Night 3D, which made an estimated $10.3 million.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes finally stopped rising (unless you count the additional Labor Day grosses), landing in 5th place with slightly under an estimated $10.3 million. However, its triumphant five week run puts it leaps and bounds ahead (in total gross) of the swiftly tanking Colombiana (an estimated $9.4 million). However, Our Idiot Brother, which only took an estimated $7 million, is actually doing okay…with a budget of $5 million, the Paul Rudd comedy may not be in the heavyweight league of comedies earlier in the year, but it has been profitable, to the tune of $17.3 million in gross. It’s certainly faring better than lagging Spy Kids 4D: All the Time in the World, which earned an estimated $6.6 million this weekend for a tepid gross of $31 million…not much considering it cost $27 million to begin with, and is the lowest-earning entry in the series by far (worldwide gross is helping, but not by much).

At the bottom hang one minor failure and one major success: Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark’s poor reviews and word of mouth have apparently made an impression, earning an estimated $6.1 million. This gives it a $17.6 million in domestic gross, but is still a long ways away from its $25 million price tag (which is probably far more than the television version it is based on cost). And, with potentially its last week in the Top 10, The Smurfs held out for an estimated $5.6 million; while somewhat profitable here ($133.6 million to its $110 million budget), its overseas profits have skyrocketed, earning a worldwide total of $429.4 million. In other words, don’t expect a Conan or Fright Night sequel anytime soon, but expect a Smurfs sequel in about a week or so.

Weekend Box-Office (September 2 – September 5)

  1. The Help…$19 million
  2. The Debt…$12 million
  3. Apollo 18…$10.7 million
  4. Shark Night 3D…$10.3 million
  5. Rise of the Planet of the Apes…$10.3 million
  6. Colombiana…$9.4 million
  7. Our Idiot Brother…$7 million
  8. Spy Kids 4D: All the Time in the World…$6.6 million
  9. Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark…$6.1 million
  10. The Smurfs…$5.6 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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