End of Summer Blahs

The Labor Day weekend marks the end of the summer movie season.  And as typical for the standards set by Hollywood, late August in the dumping ground for excess crap, marking the end of a fairly lackluster summer.  None of the this weekend's offerings-- the Helen Mirren-Holocaust spy thriller The Debt, long-delayed horror space tale Apollo 18, nor the in-the-tradition of Piranha 3-D exploitation flick Shark Night (in 3-D)-- sparked much interest from North American filmgoers.  In fact all three features were overtaken by the month old phenomenon that is The Help, which topped the box office for the third consecutive week (something no film has done since last summer's Inception.)  It's a bit more of an accomplishment considering the Viola Davis-headlined domestic weepie opened in second place in its first weekend of release.  Thus creating perhaps the zeitgeist film of the year, as all its word of mouth praise, constant hype and astounding box office numbers should attest.  For a film that cost only $25 million to make, The Help has made $123 million.  All grosses are over the 4-day holiday period:

1. The Help- $19 million \ 123.3 million (+30%)
2. The Debt- $12 million \ $14.4 million-- The Holocaust thriller starring Helen Mirren, Sam Worthington and the ubiquitous Jessica Chastain (third movie of 2011 after The Tree of Life and The Help, and there's more to come...) directed by John Madden (Shakespeare in Love) was the best of the newcomers, the film opened last Wednesday.
3. Apollo 18- $10.7 million-- First weekend of release for the long-delayed Weinstein Company horror flick.
4. Shark Night- $10.3 million
5. Rise of the Planet of the Apes- $10.2 million \ $162.0 million (+15%)
6. Columbiana- $9.7 million\$23.9 million (-9.7%)-- The Zoe Saldana starrer is doing better than it probably looks considering it cost only $40 million to produce and producer Luc Besson (Leon, Le Femme Nikita) is bankable overseas.
7. Our Idiot Brother- $7.0 million \ $17.5 million (+0.5%)-- The Paul Rudd-helmed stoner comedy is proving a nice little art house hit for the Weinstein Company, as the festival favorite of last season cost only $5 million.
8. Spy Kids: All the Time in the World- $6.6 million\$31 million (+10%)-- The Weinstein Company is all over the map in this weekend's top ten, as the ill-fated fourth entry in the Spy Kids franchises will likely leave the top ten (and enter further oblivion) next week.  Upside: cost only $27 to produce.
9. Don't Be Afraid of the Dark- $6.1 million \ $17.5 million (-27%)-- The Guillermo del Toro produced horror flick has faded in it's second weekend of release.  At least upstart company FilmDistrict (which opened this spring's surprise hit Insidious, and is tackling the Cannes critics hit Drive in two weeks) won't lose too much, as Dark cost around $25 million.
10. The Smurfs- $5.6 million \ $133.5 million (+17%)
11. Crazy, Stupid, Love.- $4.3 million \ $75.5 million (+29%)
12. Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows: Part II- $3.3 million \ $375.4 million (+29%)
13. Captain America: The First Avenger- $2.4 million \ $172.1 million (+9%)-- Still $9 million short of last May's Thor...

In other news:

Cars 2 was re-released and greeted with a sigh-  $1.6 million \ $189 million becoming the first Pixar movie since A Bug's Life (1998) not to cross the $200 million barrier, and by a large margin the lowest attended one.
 
Bad Teacher is teetering on the $100 million threshold, having made $98.8 million in eleven weeks of release...will it make it...
 
Higher Ground, Vera Farmiga's directorial debut (which has earned lovely reviews) is doing decent, if not gangbusters art house numbers, in it's second weekend in limited release the film has earned $169,000 on 17 screens, for an per-screen average of $7,300.