It was another bad week to be a new arrival at the box office in the US, as the fresh offerings had to contend with two very powerful forces – the audience appeal of The Help and the weather.
Thanks to the arrival of Hurricane Irene, lots of cinemas were closed on the East Coast of America, which means takings were reduced for the week. That didn’t seem to bother Tate Taylor’s film, though, with The Help staying strong in its third week of release and adding $14.3 million for a $96.6 million total so far.
The highest new entry was Zoe Saldana-starring revenge thriller Colombiana, which took second place and made $10.3 million. Third was another newbie, the Guillermo del Toro-produced horror Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, arriving with $8.7 million. Last week’s second place film, former box office champ Rise of the Planet of the Apes, dropped to fourth, but still managed to make $8.6 million. In fifth place, we find the week’s other new arrival, with Paul Rudd comedy Our Idiot Brother underperforming for $6.5 million. However, given that the movie was bought at Sundance for $5 million, that’s not quite as big a problem as it might sound.
Spy Kids: All the Time in the World slumped to sixth with $5.7 million, while The Smurfs made $4.8 million in seventh place. Conan The Barbarian took a nasty tumble down to eighth with $3.1 million. Fright Night was ninth ($3 million) and Crazy, Stupid, Love clung on to 10th place with $2.9 million.
To get justice for the trouble that statistics have caused you, head on over to Box Office Mojo.