Weekend Box Office: August 19-21

Courtesy of Box Office Mojo:

1.  The Help - $20.4 million

2.  Rise of the Planet of the Apes - $16.3 million

3.  Spy Kids: All The Time in the World - $12 million

4.  Conan the Barbarian - $10 million

5.  The Smurfs - $8 million

6.  Fright Night - $7.9 million

7.  Final Destination 5 - $7.7 million

8.  30 Minutes or Less - $6.3 million

9.  One Day - $5.1 million

10. Crazy, Stupid, Love. - $4.9 million

So this was an awful weekend to be a new release.  It was, however, a great weekend for The Help, which dropped a mere 22% from last weekend to claim the top spot with $20.4 million.  The film, based on Kathryn Stockett's best-selling novel, has been a solid hit at the box office, having grossed $71 million domestically since opening on August 10, and at this rate should continue to play will into the fall.

Four new movies opened this weekend:  a family film, an action film, a romatic drama, and a horror film.  Sounds like there was something for everyone...except that no one showed up for any of them.  Adding to the humilation was that Rise of the Planet of the Apes, now its third weekend of release, easily bested all of them, finishing in second place with $16.3 million.  In what is now the surprise hit of the summer, Apes has now grossed $133 million domestically and is expected to pass the $145 million box office of X-Men: First Class, which was the movie Fox rolled out as one of their big guns at the beginning of the summer.

Now to the ugly news:  despite the added feature of "Aromascope" (I don't even want to know), the kids weren't much interested in a fourth Spy Kids film, which earned a paltry $12 million.  The return of Conan the Barbarian didn't impress anyone either:  that only earned $10 million.  Fright Night barely kept up with The Smurfs this weekend, each grossing $8 and $7.9 million respectively.  Is it even worth pointing out that all three of these films were also in 3D, and this is still all they made?  That's kinda pathetic.

The only non-3D release fared worst as the Anne Hathaway/Jim Sturgess romance One Day was barely noticed by audiences at all, landing in ninth place with just $5.1 million.

Sounds like a weekend that has definitely signalled the end of summer.  Let's see if a non-vampire horror film, Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, fares better when it hits theaters next weekend, along with the Paul Rudd comedy Our Idiot Brother, and an ass-kicking Zoe Saldana in Colombiana.  I think I'm betting on The Help taking the top spot again next weekend.