“The Help” Is A Blockbuster! Holds #1 Spot For A Third Week.

The Help, which didn’t even debut at #1 in the box office, is a box office dream! After stealing the #1 throne in week two, it has now held the top spot for a third consecutive week. With a domestic total estimated at $122 million dollars, it has far surpassed it’s production of budget of 25 million dollars.

The film is based on the best-selling novel about black maids in the 1960s and their white employers.

“The Help” is a film with heart amidst a Hollywood propensity for blockbuster action films. Consider that “Rise Of The Planet of the Apes” had a production cost of approximately $93 million dollars. It has been out a week longer than “The Help” and has grossed $160 million dollars domestically. Certainly a respectable box office, and one that shows more international promise, but will take a tad longer to make this kind of profit.

Generally, films have one shot – one big weekend – to make an impact on movie-goers, and then the publicity fades and commercial airtime for previews drop. The fact that “The Help” has managed to not only survive but thrive speaks to the public response and quality of the film. The Academy has likely already taken notice of the film from the start, but now it seems inevitable that we’ll see these stars walking a very important red carpet come 2012.

Here’s the rest of the weekend box office:

1. The Help – $14.2 mil
2. The Debt – $9.7 mil
3. Apollo 18 – $8.7 mil
4. Shark Night 3D – $8.6 mil
5. Rise of the Planet of the Apes – $7.8
6. Colombiana – $7.4 mil