“Underworld: Awakening” and “Red Tails” opened to better-than-expected numbers at the domestic box office this weekend, taking $25.4 million and $19.1, respectively.

“Underworld’s” number was strong enough that Sony’s distribution chief, Rory Bruer, told TheWrap Sunday morning that he “would be surprised if there wasn’t” a fifth “Underworld” movie.”

Also of note: Summit’s “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 1″ crossed the $700 million mark at the worldwide box office this weekend. It has taken $701.3 million since its Nov. 18, 2011 release and is on track to become the highest-grossing film of the “Twilight” franchise.

The weekend’s strong figures came despite snow storms in the east and midwest, and marked yet another good weekend for the box office, which is up about 32 percent compared to the same weekend in 2011.

Among specialty releases, meanwhile, Fox Searchlight’s “The Descendants” — possibly gaining a bump from its Golden Globe for best drama — took $2.4 million in 560 locations. That number pushed it past the $50 million mark. The Weinstein Company’s “The Iron Lady,” which won Meryl Streep a best actress for Golden Globe, remained No. 10 for the second week in a row.

Between Screen Gems’ “Underworld: Awakening,” the fourth installment in the studio’s vampire-and-werewolf franchise, and Universal’s “Contraband,” Kate Beckinsale starred in the No. 1 and No. 3 movies in North America.

“Contraband,” which was No. 1 last week, continued drawing audiences, and grossed $12.2 million in its second weekend.

Sony, which owns Screen Gems, attributed the success of “Underworld: Awakening” to several factors, including the return of Beckinsale to the role of Selene, the vampire warrior she originated.

The studio also noted that “Underworld Awakening” is the first of the “Underworld” franchise shown in 3D and IMAX. Sony noted that 3D made up 59 percent of opening weekend receipts, and IMAX made up another 15 percent.

According to IMAX, the movie took $3.8 million on 254 digital IMAX locations.

“This has been a fun ride for us,” Bruer told TheWrap.

He said the movie, which received a score of “A-” from the audience survey firm Cinemascore, skewed slightly male: 55 percent of the audience was male and 60 percent was 25 and older.

The studio had expected “Underworld Awakening,” which cost about $70 million to make, would gross between $20 million and $22 million over the weekend.

“But we hit the high end and there were weather factors,” Bruer said. “That really bodes well for how the film will continue to perform.”
Mans Marlind and Bjorn Stein directed.

Overseas, “Underworld: Awakening” grossed $13.4 million, making it No. 1 in a dozen of the 20 international markets where it debuted.
Fox, too, was upbeat.

Studio executives had projected that the PG-13 “Red Tails,” about the Tuskegee Airmen of World War II, would gross $10 million to $12 million, although less conservative outside box-office watchers estimated it would take as much as $18 million.

The $19.1 million take was a surprise.

“It played across all demographics and all across the country,” Fox’s distribution chief, Chris Aronson, told TheWrap Sunday morning.

He noted that the audience was 51 percent male and 49 percent female — a close split, considering “Red Tails” is a war movie.

“Red Tails,” which executive producer George Lucas financed, cost $58 million to make.

“George has believed in this movie for 20-odd years and all I can say is, he was right,” Aronson said.

The Tuskegee Airmen were African American pilots in the segregated U.S. Army Air Corps.

“It’s a story that not too many people know about,” Aronson said. “And now a lot of people will know about.”

He said the movie, directed by Anthony Hemingway and starring Terrence Howard, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Bryan Cranston, slightly overindexed in African American markets, and that the only North American locations where the movie did not perform especially well were in Canada.

The movie received an “A” Cinemascore.

The other two new movies of the weekend, Warner’s “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” and Relativity’s “Haywire,” met or slightly exceeded projections.

“Extremely Loud,” in its first week of wide release after spending four weeks in limited release, took $10.5 million.

Steven Daldry directed the PG-13 movie is about a 9-year-old boy whose father is killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and who searches for the lock that matches a key the man left behind.

The movie, which stars Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock, received an “A-” Cinemascore rating.

Outside box-office watchers predicted that “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” would gross about $12 million over the weekend.

Finally, Relativity’s “Haywire,” directed by Steven Soderbergh, grossed $9 million.

The studio had projected that it would take $8 million, and outside box-office watchers figured it would take slightly more than that.

But while critics liked the movie — it has a strong 82 percent Rotten Tomatoes rating — the movie received a stunningly bad “D+” from Cinemascore.

The movie, about a black ops superspy who goes after some high-level bad guys who have set her up, stars mixed martial artist Gina Carano, along with Michael Douglas, Ewan McGregor Antonio Banderas, Michael Fassbender and Channing Tatum.

Who doesn’t love a good scary movie? People flocked to theaters this weekend to catch the opening of Paramount’s horror pic The Devil Inside. The film opened to $34.5 million.

The Devil Inside took the number one spot away from Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. Ghost Protocol opened Dec. 20 and has grossed a worldwide total of $458.1 million.

Sherlock Holmes – Game of Shadows brought in $14.1 million this weekend, while The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo earned $11.3 million.

The Devil Inside was acquired by the studio for only $1 million.

Claiming the pole position for the second straight week, “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol” finds itself perched in the top spot at the box office to begin the New Year’s weekend of December 30, 2011 – January 1, 2012.

The Tom Cruise and Paula Patton fronted action film pulled in $10.7 million on Friday and $8.7 million on Saturday while expected to bring in a solid total of $28.2 million during its third weekend of release.

With little change being seen from the Christmas weekend placings, the runner-up slot is occupied once more by the Guy Ritchie directed sequel “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows,” as the Jude Law and Robert Downey Jr starring motion picture made $7.4 million on Friday and $6.2 million on Saturday while trending towards a weekend take of $20.8 million.

Rounding out the top five at the box office in estimated weekend totals are the Steven Spielberg directed movie “War Horse” ($13.1 million), along with the family friendly film “Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked” ($18 million) and the Scarlett Johansson/Matt Damon co-starring dramedy “We Bought a Zoo” ($13 million).

Vampires feasted at the Thanksgiving weekend box office, bringing the newest “Twilight” movie its second win in a row over a strong comeback for “The Muppets” and other family fare that filled theaters.

“The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn: Part 1” delivered an estimated $113.5 million around the globe from Friday through Sunday. The film ranked No. 1 for the second straight week at U.S. and Canadian theaters, where ticket sales hit $42 million for three days and $62.3 million over the five-day Thanksgiving holiday weekend. The film’s total box-office take since its release reached $489.3 million globally.

“Breaking Dawn: Part 1” is the fourth movie in the “Twilight” series, one of Hollywood’s most lucrative franchises. The movies are based on best-selling novels by Stephanie Meyer about a human-vampire-werewolf love triangle, a story that has generated legions of die-hard female fans.

For the latest movie, “word of mouth is good. (Fans) are supporting the film,” said Richie Fay, president of domestic distribution for independent studio Summit Entertainment, which backed the film.

In second place, audiences welcomed the Muppets back to theaters for the first time in 12 years.

New Disney movie “The Muppets” starring Jason Segel and Amy Adams alongside Kermit, Miss Piggy and their puppet friends took in a strong $29.5 million at North American (U.S. and Canadian) theaters in three days. The five-day holiday weekend haul reached $42.0 million domestically. Two international markets added $1.6 million.

Disney bought the rights to the Muppets in 2004 and the media, entertainment and consumer-products giant is eager to interest a new generation in the characters.
“It’s hard to have anyone argue we didn’t bring them back,” said Dave Hollis, Disney’s executive vice president for motion picture sales and distribution. The movie’s performance “exceeded expectations,” he said.

The Muppets starred on a weekly television show in the 1970s and early 1980s plus a series of films, the last being 1999′s “Muppets from Space.”

Critics loved the new Muppets movie, with 98 percent giving a favorable review on aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes. Audiences awarded an A rating on average, according to exit-polling firm CinemaScore. The movie cost about $45 million to produce.

In third place for the weekend, dancing penguin sequel “Happy Feet Two” earned $13.4 million over three days domestically during its second weekend in theaters and $18.4 million through five days.

Rounding out the top five were two other new family movies that critics adored.

Animated 3D movie “Arthur Christmas,” which cost about $98 million to produce, pulled in $12.7 million at domestic theaters over three days and $17 million in five days to finish in fourth place. The movie explains how Santa delivers presents around the world in one night and has earned $22.3 million overseas since opening two weeks ago.

Rory Bruer, president of worldwide distribution for Sony Pictures, said the film “opened about where we hoped it would” and he expected the Christmas theme would appeal throughout the holiday season.

“Hugo,” a 3D family movie, ended the weekend in fifth place with $11.4 million over three days and $15.4 million over five days. The movie centers on an orphan living in a Paris train station in the 1930s.

The film exceeded studio forecasts for its release in about 1,300 locations, far fewer than the 3,000-plus for the other widely released films, said Don Harris, president of domestic distribution for Paramount.

In a small number of theaters, “My Week with Marilyn,” starring Michelle Williams as Marilyn Monroe opened with $1.8 million from 244 screens from Friday through Sunday. Critics have praised Williams’ performance in The Weinstein Co. film and mentioned her as an Academy Award contender for the role.

Walt Disney Co released “The Muppets.” Privately held Summit Entertainment released “Breaking Dawn – Part 1.” “Arthur Christmas” was distributed by Sony, and Hugo was released by Paramount, a unit of Viacom Inc. Time Warner unit Warner Bros. distributed “Happy Feet Two.”

Puss in Boots has pawed its way to the top of the box office for the second week in a row!

The animated kiddie flick, featuring the voices of Salma Hayek and Antonio Banderas, raked in $33 million in box office receipts to maintain the top sales spot in its second week in theaters.

Eddie Murphy and Ben Stiller’s caper Tower Heist debuted in second place this weekend, earning $25.1 million in its first week out of the gate. Tower Heist’s numbers are slightly less than the openings of Stiller’s other comedies, including Meet the Parents ($28.6 million) and Starsky and Hutch ($28.1 million).

The holiday-themed A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas opened to disappointing numbers, with an estimated $13.07 million in box office receipts this weekend. The Kal Penn and John Cho-fronted film earned slightly less than the film’s prior installment, Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, which opened in 2008.

Rounding out the top five this weekend were the spooky Paranormal Activity 3 ($8.5 million) and Justin Timberlake’s sci-fi flick In Time, which earned $7.7 million for a fifth place finish.

The “Shrek” spinoff “Puss in Boots” landed on all fours, opening with an estimated $34 million to lead the box office.

The DreamWorks 3-D animated film, distributed by Paramount Pictures, proved the popular character voiced by Antonio Banderas was a big enough draw outside the “Shrek” franchise.

The PG-rated “Puss in Boots” scored with family audiences on the weekend before Halloween, and also drew a large Hispanic crowd, which made up 35 percent of its audience.

Though the box office for the top 12 movies was up 7.8 percent from the corresponding weekend last year, it was still affected by both the unseasonable winter storm on the East Coast and the appeal of the Game 7 broadcast of baseball’s World Series on Friday night. DreamWorks estimated the storm took off several million from “Puss in Boots.”

The new release on the weekend from 20th Century Fox, the Justin Timberlake sci-fi thriller “In Time,” was down as much as 20 percent Saturday in markets like New York and Philadelphia.

But the largest estimated opening didn’t happen in North America. “The Adventures of Tintin,” which is being distributed overseas by Sony Pictures and Paramount Pictures, opened in 19 international markets and hauled in $55.8 million.

The performance-capture 3-D animated film, directed by Steven Spielberg and adapted from the beloved Belgian comic series, was especially popular in France, where its $21.5 million was the largest opening for a non-sequel Hollywood film. The film opens in the U.S. on Dec. 21.

“We’re still waiting for the holiday season to kick in in earnest as we get into November,” said Paul Dergarabedian, box-office analyst for Hollywood.com. “The holiday season is going to be very strong at the box office.”

Paramount also claimed the weekend’s second top performing movie with the low-budget horror film “Paranormal Activity 3.” That film took in $18.5 million in its second week of release, bringing its cumulative total to $81.3 million. Paramount’s “Footloose” was the fourth film on the weekend, adding $5.4 million for a three-week total of $38.4 million.

“In Time” opened with $12 million domestically but took in more ($14.5 million) overseas.
The biggest disappointment was “The Rum Diary,” the Hunter S. Thompson adaption starring Johnny Depp. It opened weakly, earning just $5 million, a low figure for a film headlined by Depp and which cost an estimated $50 million to make.

But the solid opening for “Puss in Boots” was much needed for DreamWorks. The company said Tuesday its net income fell by half in the third quarter as its early summer release, “Kung Fu Panda 2,” did not haul in as much at the box office as last year’s “Shrek Forever After.”

Reviews and audience reaction have been positive for “Puss in Boots.” Its release date was moved up a week to essentially give the film more time to run in theaters before other large fall movies are released. It added $17 million internationally, with most of that coming from Russia.

“We always looked at this as a two-weekend release strategy, so we think we’ve got a good start on that plan,” said Anne Globe, head of worldwide marketing and consumer products at DreamWorks. “Being the number one movie and the likely Halloween weekend record-breaker, we’re well-positioned to go into week two as well as play through the holidays.”

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Where available, latest international numbers are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
1. “Puss in Boots,” $34 million. ($17 million international.)
2. “Paranormal Activity 3,” $18.5 million. ($17 million international.)
3. “In Time,” $12 million. ($14.5 million international.)
4. “Footloose,” $5.4 million. ($1.4 million international.)
5. “The Rum Diary,” $5 million.
6. “Real Steel,” $4.7 million.
7. “The Three Musketeers,” $3.5 million.
8. “The Ides of March,” $2.7 million.
9. “Moneyball,” $2.4 million.
10. “Courageous,” $1.8 million.

The boxing robots of “Real Steel” had better footwork at the ticket window than the kids in the remake of the 1980s dance classic “Footloose” and held on to the domestic box-office title for a second straight week.

“Real Steel” racked up an estimated $39.6 million in global ticket sales over three days, distributor Walt Disney Co said on Sunday. The film earned $16.3 million of that total from U.S. and Canadian theaters.

“Footloose,” the story of teenagers who defy their small town’s ban on dancing, was close behind with $16.1 million from U.S. and Canadian theaters.

Appeal to families helped “Real Steel” come out on top, said Dave Hollis, Disney’s executive vice president for motion picture sales and distribution. The DreamWorks-produced film stars Hugh Jackman as a father who bonds with his son as they restore a robot to fight for a boxing championship.

To date, the movie has earned $51.7 million at North American theaters plus $56.6 million in international markets, for a combined global tally of $108.3 million.
The “Footloose” debut performed in line with studio expectations and earned an A rating from audiences polled by survey firm CinemaScore, said Don Harris, president of domestic distribution for Paramount Pictures, which released the film.

The remake, which cost about $24 million to make, features Dennis Quaid as a local preacher and lesser-known actors in the lead teenager roles. Kevin Bacon starred in the original 1984 hit.

In third place for the weekend, horror flick “The Thing” grabbed a weak $8.7 million. The film, a prequel to a 1982 hit, centers on a team of scientists who travel to Antarctica to investigate an alien creature. The movie’s production cost about $38 million.

Nikki Rocco, president of distribution for Universal Pictures, noted other horror films had struggled lately and said the box office “was relatively soft this weekend” overall.

Sales for the top 12 movies came in 34 percent lower than the same weekend last year, according to figures from Hollywood.com Box Office.

Political drama “The Ides of March,” directed by and co-starring George Clooney, pulled in $7.5 million during its second weekend in theaters to finish in fourth place. Clooney also co-wrote the film about moral choices during a tight primary contest between two politicians running for president.

In fifth place was “Dolphin Tale,” a feel-good movie based on the true story of an injured dolphin rehabilitated with a prosthetic tail. The film brought in $6.3 million domestically over the weekend.

New comedy “The Big Year” was a flop. The film, starring comedy heavyweights Steve Martin, Owen Wilson and Jack Black as bird-watching buddies, landed in ninth place with just $3.3 million domestically.

“It’s a high-quality film with a talented cast. We just missed,” said Bruce Snyder, president of domestic distribution for distributor 20th Century Fox.

Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom Inc, released ”Footloose.” “Real Steel” was produced by DreamWorks and distributed by Walt Disney Co. Universal Pictures, a unit of Comcast Corp, distributed “The Thing.” Sony Corp unit Columbia Pictures released “The Ides of March.” “The Big Year” was distributed by News Corp unit 20th Century Fox, and “Dolphin Tale” was released by Time Warner Inc unit Warner Bros.

Four new movies were no match for the feline phenom The Lion King 3D, which ruled the box office for the second weekend in a row with $22.1 million, according to studio estimates. The 1994 Disney classic dropped only 27 percent — an incredibly impressive hold considering this is the re-release of a 17-year-old film that’s coming out on Blu-ray/DVD in one week. The 3-D version has now grossed $61.7 million, bringing The Lion King‘s cumulative tally to $390.2 million. Disney says it plans to extend what was originally intended to be just a two-week release, although details are still being ironed out.

The weekend’s runner-up was the new Brad Pitt baseball drama Moneyball, which batted a solid $20.6 million. If the estimate holds, that’ll represent the best opening ever for a baseball film, beating 2006′s The Benchwarmers ($19.7 million). Surprisingly for a sports movie, Moneyball drew a crowd that was evenly split between men and women, although it skewed quite older, with 89 percent of the audience at least 25 years old. Both critics and moviegoers were fans — the PG-13 film received some of the strongest reviews of the year and earned an “A” rating from CinemaScore participants.

Moneyball will now try to follow in the box-office footsteps of last year’s The Social Network, which debuted to a similar $22.4 million en route to a domestic total of $97 million. Both movies were released by Sony in the middle of fall and were written by Aaron Sorkin (who co-wrote Moneyball with Steven Zaillian). The two films even cost around the same amount to produce: $50 million for Moneyball and $40 million for Social Network.

Right behind Moneyball was the PG-rated family drama Dolphin Tale with $20.3 million. The Warner Bros. film joined Soul Surfer and The Help to become the year’s third release to score an “A+” from CinemaScore audiences. As a result, Dolphin Tale is expected to hold up particularly well in the next few weeks and should easily earn back its $37 million budget. Showings in 3-D theaters accounted for 50 percent of the film’s opening.

Fourth place went to Lionsgate’s Abduction, starring The Twilight Saga‘s Taylor Lautner is his first solo lead role. The PG-13 action film debuted to a modest $11.2 million — slightly below industry predictions. The $35 million movie received most of its business from young women, with 68 percent of the audience being female and 56 percent under than age of 25. Abduction garnered a lackluster “B-” rating from CinemaScore moviegoers, though women under the age of 18 were more generous with an “A-” grade. And according to CinemaScore, 56 percent of ticket buyers listed Lautner as their main reason for attending the movie. So the 19-year-old actor does have box-office potential, but it’s currently limited to teenage girls.

Finally, in fifth was the R-rated thriller Killer Elite, which snagged a disappointing $9.5 million. The $66 million movie, starring Jason Statham, Clive Owen, and Robert De Niro, is the first picture to be released by Open Road Films, a partnership between the AMC and Regal theater chains. But despite its buzz-worthy cast, the film couldn’t match the $11.4 million debut of Statham’s last live-action project, January’s The Mechanic. CinemaScore graders handed Killer Elite a so-so “B” rating.
In limited release, the action biopic Machine Gun Preacher — starring Gerard Butler as real-life biker-turned-defender-of-Sudanese-orphans Sam Childers — underwhelmed with $44,000 at four theaters. And Puncture, featuring Chris Evans as a drug-addicted lawyer, also disappointed, grossing $35,700 from four locations.

1. The Lion King 3D — $22.1 mil
2. Moneyball — $20.6 mil
3. Dolphin Tale — $20.3 mil
4. Abduction — $11.2 mil
5. Killer Elite — $9.5 mil

The Help stayed on the job over Labor Day, finishing as the No. 1 film for the third-straight weekend. The acclaimed drama about Southern black maids speaking out during the civil-rights movement took in $19 million over the long holiday weekend, according to studio estimates Monday.

That raised the film’s domestic total to $123.4 million. “The Help” also has begun rolling out overseas, pulling in $1.7 million in its first international market, Australia.

A DreamWorks Pictures release distributed by Disney, “The Help” has been a triumph amid a rush of late-summer duds that ended Hollywood’s busiest season. Another batch of new movies this weekend packed in modest to small crowds.

“‘The Help’ is literally in a league of its own at the end of a summer movie season where the competition was virtually non-existent,” said Paul Dergarabedian, box-office analyst for Hollywood.com. “It’s a really good movie that happened to land in the perfect spot at the perfect time. They are really just reaping the benefit of the worst dog days of August that we have seen in years.”

Best among the newcomers was Focus Features’ Holocaust-revenge thriller “The Debt” at No. 2 with $12.6 million from Friday to Monday. “The Debt” stars Helen Mirren and features “The Help” co-star Jessica Chastain.

The Weinstein Co. sci-fi horror tale “Apollo 18″ opened at No. 3 with $10.7 million. Another fright flick, Relativity Media’s “Shark Night 3D,” debuted at No. 4 with $10.3 million.

A handful of other movies opened in narrower release well outside the weekend’s top 10, including Visio Entertainment’s golf drama “Seven Days in Utopia,” which stars Robert Duvall and Lucas Black and pulled in a modest $1.6 million.

Pantelion Films’ action comedy “Saving Private Perez” debuted with $830,000, while Samuel Goldwyn Films’ sex comedy “A Good Old Fashioned Orgy” opened with just $153,000.

While holdover films almost always have big drops in revenue in subsequent weekends, “The Help” did the same business this past Friday to Sunday as it did a week earlier.

Starring Viola Davis, Emma Stone and Octavia Spencer, “The Help” has followed the path of the book on which it is based, which became a literary phenomenon through word-of-mouth among readers.

The film began solidly with a No. 2 opening, then rose to its three-week reign at No. 1 as fans talked it up to friends.

“The Help” gave Hollywood a slight boost over Labor Day weekend a year ago. Overall domestic revenues for the four days came in at $139 million, up 5 percent from the same weekend last year, when “The American” opened at No. 1 with $16.7 million, according to Hollywood.com.

Domestic receipts from the first weekend in May through Labor Day finished at about $4.38 billion, up a fraction from summer 2010 revenues, Hollywood.com estimates.
But factoring in this year’s higher ticket prices, actual movie attendance was down slightly, the fourth-straight summer that admissions have dropped.
Overseas, the family smash “The Smurfs” continued to dominate, pulling in $23.3 million to pad its international total to $295.8 million and its worldwide haul to about $430 million. “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” ran second internationally with $19.4 million, lifting its overseas take to $186.5 million and its worldwide total to about $350 million.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Monday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Where available, latest international numbers are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Tuesday.
1. “The Help,” $19 million.
2. “The Debt,” $12.6 million.
3. “Apollo 18,” $10.7 million.
4. “Shark Night 3D,” $10.3 million.
5. “Rise of the Planet of the Apes,” $10.25 million.
6. “Colombiana,” $9.4 million.
7. “Our Idiot Brother,” $7 million.
8. “Spy Kids: All the Time in the World,” $6.6 million.
9. “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark,” $6.1 million.
10. “The Smurfs,” $5.6 million.

Cameron Diaz made Bad Teacher a $200 million hit. Kristen Wiig broke big with Bridesmaids. Jennifer Aniston helped Horrible Bosses to a nice run.

But only one actress went to No. 1 this summer—and she went there twice: Emma Stone.

Stone’s The Help took advantage of its good buzz and weak competition to score a second-straight win at the weekend box office. Disney expects the Civil Rights-era drama to break $100 million domestically by the middle of the week.

Of all the summer hits, The Help is the only No. 1 that was led by a female star. It’s also the only No. 1 to go No. 1 after opening No. 2.

Overall, the box office was wrecked by Hurricane Irene. Ticket sales were down a whopping 23 percent from last weekend. One studio exec told us the East Coast-ravaging Irene was a “pretty significant” factor.

As an apparent result, neither the Katie Holmes-led horror remake Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, nor the Paul Rudd indie comedy Our Idiot Brother did much in their debuts.

“Many theaters closed or were dead even if they remained open,” another exec, Bob Berney, distribution president for Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark’s FilmDistrict, said in a statement.

On the upside, Zoe Saldana’s Colombiana, the weekend’s other major new release, came closer than expected to unseating The Help (and becoming the second actress-led No. 1 movie of the summer).

Anne Hathaway‘s One Day dropped from the Top 10 after a stay of just one weekend. So far, the reputedly $15 million movie has grossed $9.4 million domestically.

30 Minutes or Less ($31.7 million overall domestically) and Final Destination 5 ($37.8 million overall domestically) also fell from the standings, after stays of two weekends each.

Here’s the complete rundown of the weekend’s top-grossing films, per Friday-Sunday estimates as compiled by Exhibitor Relations:

The Help, $14.3 million
Colombiana, $10.3 million
Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, $8.7 million
Rise of the Planet of the Apes, $8.65 million
Our Idiot Brother, $6.6 million
Spy Kids: All the Time in the World in 4D, $5.7 million
The Smurfs, $4.8 million
Conan the Barbarian, $3.1 million
Fright Night, $3 million
Crazy, Stupid, Love, $2.9 million