Tate Taylor, producer Brunson Green, Emma Stone, The Help
Tate Taylor’s The Help topped the North American box office for the third straight weekend, grossing $14.2 million from Friday to Sunday (Sept 2-4), according to studio estimates found at Box Office Mojo.
To date, The Help is the only 2011 release to have been at the top of the North American box-office chart for more than two weekends. So, move aside Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, Transformers 3, Captain America: The First Avenger, Green Lantern, Rio, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Cars 2, Cowboys & Aliens, Super 8, Thor, Fast Five, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, X-Men: First Class, et al. [Note: Unlike what I claimed in a previous version of this article, Transformers 3 topped only two weekends earlier this summer; the Michael Bay actioner shows up three times on Box Office Mojo’s top-of-the-weekend chart because the first time covers the regular three-day weekend; the second time covers the Fourth of July four-day weekend. Apart from The Help, no other movie has been at the top of the North American chart for three consecutive weekends since Christopher Nolan’s Inception in summer 2010.]
The Help was down a minuscule -2% compared to last weekend, which is quite remarkable. In fact, there’s a good chance The Help will eventually pass the $150 million milestone at the US/Canada box office. But for the time being, at least, the $200 million milestone seems out of reach. Now, regarding the -2% drop-off rate, there are two things to keep in mind: a) last weekend, partly thanks to Hurricane Irene, was the year’s second-lowest weekend at the domestic box-office b) Monday is Labor Day; in other words, more people can go to the movies on Sunday evening.
Made for a reported $25m, The Help has collected $118.6m after 26 days. The comedy-drama about ethnic relations in the American South in the mid-’60s is now the no. 17 2011 release at the North American box office, ahead of Green Lantern, Horrible Bosses, Hop, Just Go with It, The Green Hornet, Gnomeo & Juliet, Bad Teacher, and Cowboys & Aliens. By next Sunday, The Help should also be ahead of both Rango and Super 8.
The Help opened in Australia in 225 locations. The film pulled in $1.7m in third place for the weekend. Its per-theater average was a decent, though hardly outstanding, $7,555. It remains to be seen how well The Help will perform abroad, as Hollywood movies about ethnic relations tend to perform much better in the US than elsewhere.
The by now all-but-assured Best Picture Oscar contender features Emma Stone, Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer, Jessica Chastain, Bryce Dallas Howard, Sissy Spacek, Mary Steenburgen, Allison Janney, Cicely Tyson, Chris Lowell, and Mike Vogel. Director Taylor adapted Kathryn Stockett’s bestselling novel.
Photo: The Help (Dale Robinette / DreamWorks / Disney Enterprises)