Tops at the Box Office: The Help slays both Conan and Fright Night

1. The Help- $20.5M/$71.8M
A brilliant marketing strategy backed by strong word of mouth helped push The Help up to the top spot after previously debuting at #2. Disney chose the best possible release date as well, promising weak competition in it's second week from Conan and Fright Night. The last film to jump up to #1 in this manner was The Blind Side, which means we can likely expect a glut of movies with white people running to the rescue of some disenfranchised minority. To be fair, The Help is a lot better than The Blind Side and treats the issue with considerably more respect. But whatever, expect The Help to hang around for awhile.

2. Rise of the Planet of the Apes- $16.3M/$134M
Dipped 41% from last week, but audiences clearly are into Fox's reboot of the Apes franchise. I think it's a stretch to say it'll come close to besting Tim Burton's 2001 film, but it's doing well enough to justify the franchise intentions.
3. Spy Kids: All the Time in the World- $12M
I keep forgetting this even came out, but the Spy Kids franchise has never really appealed to me. As it stands this will likely be the last one anyway. Even though it opened as the highest grossing new release, the $12M debut is the weakest of the franchise so far.
4. Conan the Barbarian- $10M
Ouch. Jason Momoa may want to take that sequel script he's writing and use it to shine his surfboard. Even with the added bonus of 3D, Conan the Barbarian tanked hard, defeated by films that have been out for weeks and another about child spies. Not good. I'm not sure what the studio was expecting, digging up a marginally popular character who hadn't been seen on screen in three decades.

5. Fright Night- $8.3M
The expectations were lower for Fright Night, a remake of the 1985 cult fave horror/comedy. With a relatively small budget, the $8M opening isn't all that hard to swallow. And I think the film might have some legs, with word of mouth being pretty strong, especially in regards to Colin Farrell's performance. 
6. The Smurfs- $8M/$117M
7. Final Destination 5- $7.71M/$32.3M
8. 30 Minutes or Less- $6.3M/$25.8M
9. One Day- $5.13M
Not even Anne Hathaway's Batman inspired buzz could lift One Day in people's minds. Although to be fair it opened in only 1700 theaters and will expand over the coming weeks.
10. Crazy, Stupid, Love- $4.95M/$64.4M