Civil rights comedy-drama The Help has topped the US box office for the second weekend in a row.
Despite a large number of East Coast theaters being forced to close ready for Hurricane Irene, the Emma Stone-led adaptation still took an estimated domestic total of $14.3m.
Oliver Megaton’s latest action film Colombiana, starring Zoe Saldana, opened in second place with $10.3m, followed by the Guillermo del Toro-penned horror Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark with $8.7m.
Former box-office topper Rise of the Planet of the Apes fell to fourth place this week with $8.65m, while comedy Our Idiot Brother rounded out the top five films of the weekend with $6.6m.
This week’s US box office top five in full (studio estimates):
1. (1) The Help – $14,300,000
2. (-) Colombiana – $10,300,000
3. (-) Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark – $8,700,000
4. (2) Rise of the Planet of the Apes – $8,650,000
5. (-) Our Idiot Brother – $6,600,000