Weekend Box Office: September 16-18

Courtesy of Box Office Mojo:

1.  The Lion King (3D) - $29.3 million

2.  Contagion - $14.4 million

3.  Drive - $11 million

4.  The Help - $6.4 million

5.  Straw Dogs - $5 million

6.  I Don't Know How She Does It - $4.5 million

7.  The Debt - $2.9 million

8.  Warrior - $2.7 million

9.  Rise of the Planet of the Apes - $2.6 million

10.  Colombiana - $2.3 million

Welcome back, 1994!  Disney's The Lion King felt the love at the box office this weekend, with its new 3D incarnation outgrossing all three of this weekend's new releases combined with an impressive $29.3 million.  Then again, it shouldn't come as a surprise, since the film earned a record-breaking $312 million during its original theatrical run, and another $15 million when an IMAX version was released in 2002.  So it's obviously still pretty popular, even in 3D.  At this rate, Disney will be getting to sing another chorus of "Hakuna Matata" when the film arrives on DVD/blu-ray next month.

Last week's champ, Contagion, was still popular with the grownups, dropping a mere 35% to gross another $14.4 million, bringing its domestic total up to $44 million.  It seems audiences like catastrophic plagues almost as much as they like singing lions. 

What they weren't so much in love with was any of this weekend's new releases.  Drive fared best, earning $11 million, but despite some great reviews, the Ryan Gosling thriller earned a not-very-good "C-" Cinemascore rating from audiences, which is never a good sign.  No one was particularly interested in a remake of Straw Dogs, which limped out of the weekend with just $5 million, and they were even less interested in Sarah Jessica Parker's I Don't Know How She Does It, which flopped by landing in sixth place with just $4.5 million.

On the better side of the box office news, The Help continues playing well, earning another $6.4 million to bring its domestic total to $147 million, while Rise of the Planet of the Apes (the last of the big summer movies still in the top ten) crossed the $170 million mark with a $2.6 million weekend.

So outside of The Lion King, it was a fairly unremarkable weekend at the box office.  Maybe everyone was home watching their Star Wars blu-rays.  Oh well.  Next weekend is looking a little better with the releases of Abduction, starring Twilight heartthrob Taylor Lautner, and the early Oscar-bait Moneyball, starring Brad Pitt.