While most holiday weekends in the US see the studios releasing big movies, with Labor Day marking the end of the summer season, it tends to get also-ran films that the companies behind them don’t have a huge amount of confidence in. The result is that despite three new wide release, The Help has stayed on top of the US box office over the weekend, taking another $14.2 million. It’s the first movie since Inception to top the chart for three weeks, which is even more impressive considering that it only took the top spot on its second weekend of release.
It ensured the three new entries had to make do with second, third and fourth spot. The Debt, starring Sam Worthington and Helen Mirren, did the best, taking $9.6 million from Friday to Sunday. It’s an okay start, but not that impressive. However it did better than the horror entries, with Apollo 18 and Shark Night 3D ending up with about the same three-day gross. At around $8.7 million apiece, neither movie will be celebrating, although as they didn’t cost a huge amount to make, they still have a decent chance of turning a profit.
Despite a rather lacklustre end to the summer, overall it’s been a good season for the studios, with overall takings up versus last year. That’s particularly good news for Hollywood as until May the box office was lagging around 10% behind 2010’s.
Takle a look below for the US box office top 10 for September 2nd-4th.
Rank | Title | Weekend Gross (millions) | Total Gross to date (millions) |
1 | The Help | $14.2 | $118.6 |
2 | The Debt | $9.6 | $11.5 |
3 | Apollo 18 | $8.7 | $8.7 |
4 | Shark Night 3D | $8.6 | $8.6 |
5 | Rise Of The Planet of The Apes | $7.8 | $160.0 |
6 | Colombiana | $7.4 | $21.9 |
7 | Our Idiot Brother | $5.1 | $15.4 |
8 | Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark | $4.9 | $16.3 |
9 | Spy Kids: All The Time In The World | $4.6 | $29.0 |
10 | The Smurfs | $4.0 | $131.9 |