'Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes,' 'The Help' Put Up Big Weekends

8/15/2011 11:15 AM ET

(RTTNews) - For the second straight weekend, "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" was the number one movie at the box office, posting a very strong $27.5 million and pushing its 10-day total past $100 million domestically. Despite a fairly limited release, historical drama "The Help" hit with its target demographic, helping it haul in a solid $25.5 million and propelling it to a nice four-day total of $35 million. "Final Destination 5" also got off to a decent start, while both "30 Minutes or Less" and "Glee: The 3D Concert Movie" struggled to reach mainstream audiences this weekend.

Backed by substantial critical support and good audience marks, "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" continues to be a nice success for Fox as it hits with audiences across the globe. With one of the cheapest production budgets for a franchise action movie this summer ($93 million), "Apes" is already up to $104 million domestically and has racked up $179 million worldwide. Though it will likely fall from the top spot next weekend, it should be able to continue to post decent numbers well into the fall in foreign markets, which should be enough to send director Rupert Wyatt into pre-production for a sequel in the near future.
Aimed at a completely different audience was drama "The Help," which stars Emma Stone and Viola Davis. An inspirational story about the racial divide in the deep south during the early 1960s, "The Help" opened last Wednesday and immediately started posting strong numbers, enough to propel it to a surprising $25 million opening weekend. "The Help" even had a limited release of just 2,534, less than both "Final Destination 5" and "30 Minutes or Less."
Boasting high scores on Metacritic and IMDB.com, "The Help" seems to have a nice combination of critical and audience support, which should lead to a very solid overall box office run. Though its production budget isn't yet available, "The Help" is clearly one of the least expensive movies of the year to earn at least $20 million in its opening weekend. Without any adult-geared dramas hitting theaters until "The Debt" opens in a few weekends, look for "The Help" to stick around the box office for a while.
Meanwhile, "Final Destination 5" put up a steady but ho-hum $18.40 million this weekend for distributor Warner Brothers/New Line. As expected, audience support is starting to wane, as "Final Destination 5" dropped substantially from the $27 million opening of 2009's "The Final Destination." But even though "Final Destination 5" dipped from the last installment, an $18 million opening for an inexpensive production with no big names in its cast is still fairly strong, leaving the door open for yet another "Final Destination" in the future.
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