WEEKEND BOX OFFICE IN LINE WITH RECENT YEARS

The last weekend of August is generally a weak period at the box office. According to Box Office Mojo, last year the gross for the top 12 movies came to $90.1 million. In 2009 it was $109.8 million; in 2008, just $74 million; in 2007, $97 million; and in 2006, $84.1 million — an average of $91 million for each of the last five years. This weekend’s tally of $93 million was therefore slightly above the recent averages for August’s finale — despite Hurricane Irene. Disney/DreamWorks’s The Help hardly seemed affected by the weather at all, dropping just 27 percent from the previous weekend to $14.5 million. Three newcomers, however, opened poorly. Colombiana turned out to be the best of the lot with a debut of $10.4 million. But Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark performed well below expectations with just $8.5 million and Our Idiot Brother flopped with $7 million. The fourth weekend of Rise of the Planet of the Apes was down 45 percent from the previous weekend to finish in third place with $8.9 million and bring its total to a solid $148.7 million.

The top ten films over the weekend, according to final figures compiled by Box Office Mojo (figures in parentheses represent total gross to date):
1. The Help, Disney/DreamWorks, $14,536,118, 3 Wks. ($96,833,423); 2. Colombiana, Sony/TriStar, $10,408,176, (New); 3. Rise of the Planet of the Apes, 20th Century Fox, $8,867,741, 4 Wks. ($148,674,018); 4. Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, Film District, $8,525,728, (New); 5. Our Idiot Brother, Weinstein Co. $7,011,631, (New); 6. Spy Kids: All The Time in The World, Weinstein Co. $6,007,180, 2 Wks. ($21,990,229); 7. The Smurfs, Sony Animation/Columbia, $4,754,766, 5 Wks. ($125,948,234); 8. Conan The Barbarian, Lionsgate, $3,185,094, 2 Wks. ($16,660,669); 9. Crazy, Stupid, Love., Warner Bros., $3,108,178, 5 Wks. ($69,732,502); 10. Fright Night, Disney, $3,103,227, 2 Wks. ($14,281,778).