The Help still topping the US box office

The Help enjoyed a second week on top of the US box office against a backdrop of closed cinemas and drastically reduced takings thanks to the devastation caused by Hurricane Irene.

The Emma Stone-starring film took $14.3 million dollars across the weekend, pushing its overall total up to $96.4 million and comfortably blowing away the challenge from a trio of new releases.

Zoe Saldana’s Colombiana fared best of the chart’s new entrants, taking $10.3 million to claim second spot. Haunted house flick Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark limped into third place with a disappointing $8.6 million whilst Paul Rudd vehicle Our Idiot Brother only managed $6.5 million in fifth.

Sandwiched in between the latter pair is hardy campaigner Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes , whose $8.6 million weekend leaves the blockbuster tantalisingly close to the $150 million mark overall.

Further down the chart, Spy Kids 4 was down more than 50%, taking $5.7 million in sixth place. Even The Smurfs were feeling the pinch, adding just $4.8 million to its overall gross. Meanwhile, Conan took the biggest pounding, with a $3.1 million weekend representing a decrease of 69.1%!

Fright Night didn’t do much better, losing 60.7% of its audience to take $3 million down in ninth place. Crazy Stupid Love completes the countdown, with a $2.9 million weekend helping it to cling on to tenth spot.

George Wales

George was once GamesRadar's resident movie news person, based out of London. He understands that all men must die, but he'd rather not think about it. But now he's working at Stylist Magazine.