The Help overcame Final Destination 5 in an unforeseen upset at the weekend box office, but they were both no match for those damned dirty apes. Rise of the Planet of the Apes maintained its Alpha dominance on the charts adding $27.5 million to its coffers. The rebooted prequel crossed the $100-million milestone officially making back its $93 million budget.
Rise of the Planet of the Apes had an estimated 49.8 percent drop from last week but still managed to hold off new competition. Including $74.4 million in international receipts, Fox has banked $179.2 million on its highly regarded reboot.
Plans have already been announced for the sequels. New installments may not come as planned for Final Destination 5, however. Unlike its predecessor, The Final Destination, which opened with $27.4 million, Final Destination 5 retreated to a modest $18.4 million. Although it boasted great 3-D effects and had relatively strong reviews for a horror film, audiences were not persuaded.
Instead, families ventured out for period comedy The Help. Emma Stone is on a bit of a roll here. Her movies don’t earn huge receipts, but for a young female trying movies outside the romantic comedy genre, she does pretty well. The Help opened on Wednesday with a solid $5.5 million. It added $25.5 million over the weekend and landed in second place. Its overall current domestic tally is $35.3 million.
That’s nearly three times as much as the current tally for 30 Minutes or Less. Unfortunately for Jesse Eisenberg, his Academy recognition from The Social Network didn’t boost his appeal with comedy fans. The film came in fifth place behind The Smurfs with $13 million. That was at least better than Glee: The 3D Concert Movie, which landed at 11th with $5.7 million.
For the second weekend in a row, four of the major genres are represented in next weekend’s releases. First up is Fright Night, a horror remake starring Anton Yelchin and Colin Farrell. As we have already seen, vampire movies outside of the "Twilight" universe do not make good money. Add horror into the mix and you have yourself a stinker. Conan the Barbarian is the largest budgeted movie out this weekend. The remake of the warrior movie made famous by Arnold Schwarzenegger is now starring a guy no one knows named Jason Momoa along with Rose McGowan. Thanks to a huge marketing push, “Conan” has a chance to make decent money, however not as much Lionsgate spent most likely.
One Day starring Anne Hathaway as a dumpy love interest to Jim Sturgess might provide a late summer romantic romp for women this weekend. That is if they are not stuck taking their kids to see Spy Kids: All the Time in the World. Robert Rodriguez has directed this fourth movie supposedly in 4D (think smell-o-vision). The last two movies grossed more than $100 million apiece so this is the solid frontrunner. As for One Day, it is a romantic drama, not to be confused with its more annoying cousin the romantic comedy. Basically, the plot is more depressing and everyone is uglier. Expect it to make in the low $10-million range, or predict the box office yourself in the comment section of the Box Office Wizard article this Friday right here on Player Affinity.
Your Player Affinity hosts of The Plot Hole movie podcast discuss their opinions of new releases every Tuesday night. Listen to Episode 19 to hear commentary on The Help, Final Destination 5, and 30 Minutes or Less (see www.playeraffinity.com/podcast every Tuesday night).
