The calendar may say we have a month of the season left to enjoy. But as far as Hollywood is concerned, summer’s over. Audiences have quaffed the big blockbusters like so much iced tea and studios are pushing their bargain-basement remainders to the theaters—leaving room for some quiet holdovers to make a mark.
Case in point: The Help, an inspirational, adult-centric movie offering a different take on the civil rights movement of the early 1960s, climbed to the top of the box office in its second weekend. It pocketed about $20.5 million—not Harry Potter-type numbers, to be sure, but enough to give the film a solid $71.8 million over two weeks and more than enough to cover The Help’s estimated $25 million budget.
Rise of the Planet of the Apes, after two weeks on top, dropped a rung behind The Help with $16.3 million.
New entrants were clearly an afterthought: Spy Kids: All the Time in the World (in 4-D!) proved to be the most lucrative of the bunch, pilfering about $12 million. While the film was awfully family friendly in the Plugged In universe, most critics thought the newest Spy Kids was also downright awful—mustering only a 22% freshness rating on rottentomatoes.com. Still, it fared far better than the Conan the Barbarian reboot, which is pretty horrid however you define the word. Conan, for all his muscle, only managed to lift $10 million from moviegoers.
The Fright Night remake even had a more terrifying opening frame. It scared up just $7.9 million—not even enough to fend off those persistent Smurfs for fifth place. I may not have particularly liked The Smurfs, but there’s no doubt they’re still singing their happy song—all the way to the bank.
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