'Help' sweeps into first place at box office

LOS ANGELES — “The Help” continues to clean up at the box office, taking over the No. 1 spot with $20.5 million in its second weekend.

The DreamWorks Pictures film starring Viola Davis, Emma Stone and Octavia Spencer in a drama about Southern black maids had debuted in second-place a week earlier. “The Help” raised its domestic total to $71.8 million and bumped 20th Century Fox's “Rise of the Planet of the Apes,” which slipped to No. 2 with $16.3 million after two weekends at the top, according to studio estimates Sunday.

“Rise of the Planet of the Apes” remains a solid hit, lifting its domestic total to $133.8 million.

Much as Kathryn Stockett's novel “The Help” became a best-seller through readers talking it up, the film is holding strong as audiences tell friends to go see it, said Dave Hollis, head of distribution for Disney, which releases DreamWorks films.

While revenues often drop 50 percent or more in the second weekend for big studio films, receipts for “The Help” were down only 21 percent from opening weekend.

“It is a rare feat to see a film not open at No. 1 and then become No. 1,” Hollis said. “To me, it's a testament of it being a great film, as well as the viral nature of the word-of-mouth about it.”

A rush of new movies had weak openings: the Weinstein Co. family sequel “Spy Kids: All the Time in the World” at No. 3 with $12 million; Lionsgate's action remake “Conan the Barbarian” at No. 4 with $10 million; the DreamWorks-Disney horror-comedy remake “Fright Night” at No. 5 with $8.3 million; and Focus Features' literary adaptation “One Day” at No. 9 with $5.1 million.

Other than “Fright Night,” the new movies were panned by critics, and audiences were apathetic about all of the newcomers.

“Other than the ‘The Help' and to some extent ‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes,' everybody else got beat up this weekend,” said Hollywood.com analyst Paul Dergarabedian. “This was one of those really slow, turn-movie-theaters-into-a-ghost-town weekends.”

Three of the new movies — “Spy Kids,” “Conan the Barbarian” and “Fright Night” — had the benefit of higher-priced 3-D screenings, but none were able to capitalize.