SHOW BIZ: Weekend Movie Box Office Estimates: August 26-28, 2011

Rank	Film	Distributor	Weekend Total	# Of Screens	Weeks Playing	Cumulative Box Office
1	The Help	Buena Vista	$14,333,000	2,778	2	$96,630,000
2	Colombiana	Sony/Colmbia	$10,300,000	2,614	1	$10,300,000
3	Don't Be Afraid of the Dark	Filmdistrict	$8,689,000	2,760	1	$8,689,000
4	Rise of the Planet of the Apes	Fox	$8,650,000	3,374	4	$148,456,000
5	Our Idiot Brother	Weinstein Company	$6,588,000	2,555	1	$6,588,000

For more information, access the complete chart on boxofficemojo.com.

1. "The Help:" Based on one of the most talked about books in years and a #1 New York Times best-selling phenomenon, 'The Help' stars Emma Stone ('Easy A') as Skeeter, Academy Award-nominated Viola Davis ('Doubt') as Aibileen and Octavia Spencer as Minny--three very different, extraordinary women in Mississippi during the 1960s, who build an unlikely friendship around a secret writing project that breaks societal rules and puts them all at risk. From their improbable alliance a remarkable sisterhood emerges, instilling all of them with the courage to transcend the lines that define them, and the realization that sometimes those lines are made to be crossed--even if it means bringing everyone in town face-to-face with the changing times.
Deeply moving, filled with poignancy, humor and hope, 'The Help' is a timeless and universal story about the ability to create change. -moviefone.com

2. "Colombiana:" A woman becomes a professional killer in order to seek revenge against the ruthless gangster who murdered her parents in this action thriller from director Olivier Megaton and writer/producer Luc Besson. As a young girl, Cataleya (Zoe Saldana) saw her parents killed in cold blood. Now Cataleya is all grown up, and she's determined to settle the score. Going to work for her uncle, Cataleya methodically begins working her way up through the criminal underworld, taking out every criminal in her path on an obsessive quest to bury the man who single-handedly destroyed her life. -Jason Buchanan, Rovi

3. "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark:" Guillermo Del Toro presents 'Don't Be Afraid of the Dark,' a horror film starring Katie Holmes, Guy Pearce and Bailee Madison, directed by Troy Nixey. Based on the 1973 telefilm that del Toro believes is the scariest TV production ever made, the story follows Sally (Madison), a young girl who moves to Rhode Island to live with her father (Pearce) and his new girlfriend (Holmes) in the 19th-century mansion they are restoring. While exploring the house, Sally starts to hear voices coming from creatures in the basement whose hidden agenda is to claim her as one of their own. Akin to del Toro's 'Pan's Labyrinth,' 'Don't Be Afraid of the Dark' focuses on a young girl's struggle against menacing and terrifying forces. -moviefone.com

4. "Rise of the Planet of the Apes:" The Planet of the Apes franchise gets the origin treatment in this 20th Century Fox production from director Rupert Wyatt (The Escapist). The script, written by Amanda Silver and Rick Jaffa, concerns a group of American scientists whose genetic experiments lead to an uprising by a race of intelligent apes that they helped create. James Francostars, with Freida Pinto and John Lithgow heading up the rest of the cast. - Jeremy Wheeler, Rovi

5. "Our Idiot Brother:" Every family has one: the sibling who is always just a little bit behind the curve when it comes to getting his life together. For sisters Liz (Emily Mortimer), Miranda (Elizabeth Banks) and Natalie (Zooey Deschanel), that person is their perennially upbeat brother Ned (Paul Rudd), an erstwhile organic farmer whose willingness to rely on the honesty of mankind is a less-than-optimum strategy for a tidy, trouble-free existence. Ned may be utterly lacking in common sense, but he is their brother and so, after his girlfriend dumps him and boots him off The Farm, his sisters once again come to his rescue. As Liz, Miranda and Natalie each take a turn at housing Ned, their brother's unfailing commitment to honesty creates more than a few messes in their comfortable routines. But as each of their lives begins to unravel, Ned's family comes to realize that maybe, in believing and trusting the people around him; Ned isn?t such an idiot after all. -moviefone.com

 

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