Box Office

The box office can be a funny thing. Last weekend, ‘Men in Black 3‘ made $55 million and was considered a disappointment. This weekend, ‘Snow White and the Huntsman‘ pulled in $56 million and it’s considered a roaring success. As bizarre as that sounds, it all makes sense when you look at the details.

In a weekend that saw many East Coast theaters closed because of Hurricane Irene, ‘The Help’ remained atop the box office for the second week in a row. The film, based on the best-selling book of the same name, has now earned a total of $96.6 million.

In its second week of release, strong word-of-mouth and positive reviews propelled ‘The Help’ past ‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes’ to take the number one spot at the box office this weekend, while ‘Apes’ moved to the number two slot. ‘The Help’ earned $20.5 million, while ‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes’ pulled in $16.3 million.

In what will likely be considered a wise decision, studios are steering clear of Capt. Jack Sparrow this weekend. Yep, with the summer movie season officially underway, 'Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,' the fourth installment in the popular Disney franchise, is this weekend's only major new release, opening in 4,000 theaters nationwide on Friday.