Weekend Box Office: August 12-14
Mon, August 15, 2011 
Courtesy of Box Office Mojo:
1. Rise of the Planet of the Apes - $27.8 million
2. The Help - $26 million
3. Final Destination 5 - $18 million
4. The Smurfs - $13.7 million
5. 30 Minutes or Less - $13.3 million
6. Cowboys & Aliens - $7.8 million
7. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 - $7.25 million
8. Captain America: The First Avenger - $7.21 million
9. Crazy, Stupid, Love. - $7 million
10. The Change-Up - $6.3 million
The box office was dominated by apes once again as Rise of the Planet of the Apes held on to the top spot, dropping just under 50% to earn $27.8 million and crossing the $100 million mark in its second weekend. That's not bad, considering it had to fight off a ton of new releases this weekend - though it was more of an August dumping-ground weekend than any serious competition.
The exception to that would be The Help, based on the best-selling novel by Kathryn Stockett, which came in a close second with $26 million. Disney opened The Help on Wednesday to generate word-of-mouth for the weekend, which definitely worked: the film has grossed $35 million an earned a rare A+ Cinemascore grade from audiences, which were mostly female. This should play well through the rest of the summer.
The good news for Final Destination 5? Fans really wanted to see it in 3D. Roughly 75% of the tickets sold this weekend were for 3D screenings. The bad news? It's still the lowest opening of any of the Final Destination sequels, earning a so-so $18 million.
Another new release, 30 Minutes or Less, didn't make much noise this weekend, opening with just $13.3 million. Even The Smurfs, now in its third weekend, did a little better than that with $13.7 million. The little blue guys also continued to embarrass Cowboys & Aliens at the box office, as they passed $100 million this weekend while Cowboys continues to fade with just $81 million domestically.
However, the biggest disaster of the weekend was Glee 3D, which didn't even make the top 10, earning a rather pathetic $6 million. Somewhere, Sue Sylvester is laughing hysterically.
Summer continues to wind down next weekend as remakes of Conan The Barbarian and Fright Night open in theaters, as well as another sequel no one asked for, Spy Kids 4.
Reader Comments (1)
Nice to see Potter ascend two positions rather than decline.