Apes and Help Rule Late Summer Returns

The summer movie is pretty much over...really there's precious little to look forward to in the next couple of weeks (Conan the Barbarian, Spy Kids 4-D-- what does that even mean?), but what tops the box office charts this past weekend was a welcome sigh that while the season of mindless popcorn thrills is behind us, two late season surprises should hold out pretty well for a while.  Those surprises being-- Rise of the Planet of the Apes (nearly impossibly good) and The Help (soggy but graciously performed)-- both are well worth (or nearly at the very least) the outrageous price of a movie ticket these days.

1. Rise of the Planet of the Apes- Decreased 49% in its second weekend of the release, a not terrible drop actually for a big summer movie, indicating that people might actually like the silly but potent apes in revolt reboot.  It's made $105 million so far, and should hold up fairly well in the coming weeks; that Caesar sure is a charmer.
2. The Help- Following the late-summer best-selling chick flicks of the past few years (Julie & Julia, Eat Pray Love), The Help performed beautifully in it's first weekend.  Grossing $26 million (the film opened last Wednesday and has so far made $35 million), the film should continue to be a solid hit as it's a grown up movie, and that audience doesn't always rush out opening weekend.  The big question is: How will The Help perform as awards season approaches-- there was lots of sniffling at the screening I attended...
3. Final Destination 5- The first Final Destination was a modest, grade-B schlocker that opened in spring 2000; it wasn't even terrible, but eleven years later and four more sequels-- isn't everyone dead by now?  The 3-D film opened to $18 million.
4. The Smurfs- In it's third weekend, the blue things have earned $101 million-- how does everyone feel about that?  I suppose family driven entertainment will succeed no matter what (also see: Alvin & the Chipmunks, Hop, etc.)
5. 30 Minutes or Less- Director Ruben Fleisher's follow-up to his surprise 2009 hit Zombieland starring Jesse Eisenberg (in a less than idyllic post-Oscar nom choice) attracted very few, making $13 million opening weekend.  The bright side-- it's $28 million production cost should be taken care of.
6. Cowboys & Aliens- The sci-fi western that was supposed to be the lone cool original blockbuster of the summer has all but been forgotten in three weeks with only $81 million in the bank, against a $160 million production cost.
7. Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows: Part 2- At $357 million so far, it's the highest grossing film domestically in 2010, but now that Harry is apart of the elusive global billion dollar club, it's all just icing on the cake.  I'm sure eager and greedy studio execs are, as we speak, accosting J.K. Rowling into more follow-ups, or how about remaking the whole franchise with different actors?
8. Captain America: The First Avenger- $156 million in four weeks isn't too bad, but does anyone really care about this, the last advertisement for next May's The Avengers?
9. Crazy, Stupid, Love- In its third weekend (a likely taking a bit hit due to The Help) the romantic ensemble love fest dropped 41% for a cum of $55 million in three weeks.
10. The Change-Up- In two weeks, the body swapping bromance between Jason Bateman and Ryan Reynolds has earned $25 million.  Rough summer for Reynolds, but he was great in last years underrated Buried...
11. Glee: The 3-D Concert Movie- Made $5.9 million in it's opening weekend.  I'll reserve comment, for now.

Other box office news:

• Horrible Bosses crossed the $100 million mark domestically.
• Midnight in Paris is slowly starting to finish out its beautiful run (it opened in May) and well cross the $50 million barrier any day now.  That may sound like not much, but this would mark Woody Allen's highest grosser (unadjusted for inflation) ever.
• The Tree of Life has earned $12.4 million so far as it too starts to finish its run; not a terrible number for such an esoteric movie (it's earned nearly $40 million worldwide.)
• Senna, a Sundance favorite documentary about a Formula One rivalry made an impression on two screens in N. America, earning $73,000 for a per-screen average of 36,700.
• The Future, Miranda July's latest oddity has earned $234,000 on 20 screens in it's third weekend.
• Tabloid, the best movie so far in 2011, has earned $539,000 in five weeks-- come on people, demand to see this movie!