THE HELP has done what very few films ever achieve…
It opened big—and then got better with age.
Based on Kathryn Stockett‘s best-selling novel and starring Emma Stone, Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer, Bryce Dallas Howard, Jessica Chastain, Chris Lowell, Cicely Tyson and Sissy Spacek, the picture opened just semi-wide on Wednesday, August 10 to impressive boxoffice numbers. But when Fox’s tentpole RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES hit practically every theatre just two days later on Friday, August 12, THE HELP ended up in second place for the weekend.
That all changed this weekend when the Mississippi based drama pulled a major upset. It not only beat all of this weekend’s four newcomers including SPY KIDS 4, FRIGHT NIGHT, CONAN THE BARBARIAN and ONE DAY, but outgrossed last week’s APES competitor by $4 million.
Why? Because it’s a damn good movie! Probably one of the finest commercial motion pictures you’ll see all year. So great word-of-mouth and A CinemaScore exit polling has propelled THE HELP to a $20 second weekend gross and the # 1 position at the boxoffice in North America.
I rated it 4-1/2 out of 5 and projected it for three possible Oscar nominations. It’s well on its way!
agreed
I totally agree with you. This beats anything else showing at the movies. Surprisingly the audience we saw it with was almost half males.