After three weeks spent ruling the top of the US box office charts, The Help has finally been felled by a nasty virus that spread across America this weekend via Contagion. Steven Soderbergh’s take on Irwin Allen disaster films won the weekend with $23.1 million. But the Viola Davis/Emma Stone-starring, racially charged period piece still held on well, dropping to second with $8.6 million. That meant the Tom Hardy/Joel Edgerton MMA drama Warrior had to settle for third, earning a slightly disappointing $5.6 million.
The Debt fell to fourth place, making $4.9 million, while Zoe Saldana’s revenge thriller Colombiana actually jumped back up one place to fifth with $4 million.
Rise of the Planet of the Apes was down one to sixth, taking $3.8 million, ahead of Shark Night 3D, which fell from fourth to seventh and earned $3.5 million. Apollo 18 began a quick slide down the charts, crash landing at eighth with $2.9 million, and **Our Idiot Brother **was ninth with a weekend haul of $2.7 million. Finally, in 10th place, Spy Kids: All The Time in the World took in $2.5 million.
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