Arts     

"The Help" shoots to top of N. America box office

Updated: 2011-08-22 By

• Although four films from Hollywood hit the screens over the weekend, they are no match against two holdovers from previous weeks. Owing to great word-of- mouth, "The Help" shot to the number one place at the North America box office, while "Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes," the king of box office over the fortnight, secured the number two spot.

  "The Help," a drama based on a novel about a young white woman and her relationship with two black maids during Civil Rights era America in early 1960s, saw a decline of 21 percent of its ticket receipts, and is projected to garner 20.5 million U.S. dollars over the Friday-Sunday period. It is estimated to be on track for more than 71.8 million dollars in receipts over two weeks. Executives expect the Disney/Dreamworks production, which is female-skewing, can keep the mojo with audiences in the weeks to come.

  Now three weeks in the theaters, "Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes," which ruled the box office last week, is estimated to take in 16.3 million dollars, or a 41 percent drop from last week, ending in second spot. It has bagged an estimated 133.8 million dollars in the United States and Canada, distributor 20th Century Fox said.

  Four debuts have paled in their showings, earning between 12 million and 8.3 million dollars in ticket stubs.

  "Kids 4: All The Time In The World," a so-called 4-D action- adventure family film and the fourth installment in the "Sky Kids" franchise, harvested 12 million dollars from 3,295 venues. The Weinstein is the first of the series that uses "Aromascope," allowing audience to smell odors and aromas from the film via scratch & sniff cards last used theatrically in the 2003 animated film "Rugrats Go Wild."

  "Conan the Barbarian," a fantasy/action movie which stars Jason Momoa in the title role, generated 10 million dollars, ending in fourth. It opened in 3,015 locations and reaped 62 percent of its receipts from 3-D venues. The meager showing is a far cry from Arnold Schwarzenegger's vehicle in 1982. It harvested roughly 26 million dollars during the first weekend after hitting the screen.

  Resting in fifth place is "Fright Night," a Dreamworks remake of a 1985 thriller, which made only 8.3 million dollars. Moviegoers gave it a positive rating, and it holds a 74 percent " fresh" rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.

  The fourth debut of the week, "One Day," a romantic comedy starring Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess, bagged only 5.1 million dollars from 2,983 theaters, finished in ninth spot.

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