'Help,' Irene could sweep weekend B.O.

'The Help''Our Idiot Brother'The quiet times of August turn to happen to be the perfect place for "The Assistance,Inch that is poised to again top Stateside box office. The Disney-DreamWorks pic is pitted against a trio of wide releases, that are all prone to earn under $15 million.The imminent arrival of Hurricane Irene about the New England may also hit weekend.B.O., which is not expected to maintain exactly the same frame this past year, when "Takers" and "The Final Exorcism" bowed with $20.5 million and $20.4 million, correspondingly.Horror pic "You Shouldn't Be Scared of the Dark," with FilmDistrict starting at 2,760 U.S. locations, is anticipated to top the beginners, monitoring within the $tens of millions of-$12 million range, as the Weinstein Co.'s Sundance comedy pick-up, "Our Idiot Brother," at 2,555, could easily trump "Dark" having a similar performance within the low teens. Actioner "Colombiana," which The new sony acquired like a service deal, should estimate the $7 million-$8 million range, based on B.O. commentators.Monitoring services happen to be substantially off recently, so shuffling one of the new records would not be too surprising.Overseas box office often see a lot of same, as couple of debut game titles go into the fray against Sony's repeat champion "The Smurfs," that has cumed $211.5 million after four days. "Cowboys and Aliens," having a cume of $17.8 million, stands the very best possibility of unseating "Smurfs" (pic grows into 18 marketplaces including France, Germany and Mexico).Last weekend, disappointing B.O. returns one of the new records had bizzers accusing negative reviews and poor audience reaction, while "The Assistance,Inch in addition to Fox's "Rise from the Planet from the Apes," still hold well according to strong word-of-mouth. "The AssistanceInch has made almost $80 million through Wednesday "Apes," $138.4 million.Reacting towards the title's hold available on the market, Disney is adding another 88 locations for "The AssistanceInch that's following the Mouse added 156 playdates last weekend, according to exhib demand. As a whole, "The AssistanceInch is out a few days ago at 2,778 U.S. engagements.It's very rare for any film to position No. 1 for multiple consecutive days, carrying out a debut which was not within the top place. "The Blind Side" rose to No. one in its third frame -- so did "True Grit" -- but neither film handled to remain on top throughout their 4th outing."The AssistanceInch is not prone to achieve overall domestic totals similar to "The Blind Side" ($255 million), because the latter pic performed through Christmas and first-quarter 2010. Likewise, "True Grit, having a cume of $171 million, achieved positive results from elevated moviegoing throughout this years holidays, plus an honours-season boost. In either case, "The AssistanceInch stands among the summer's most enjoyable surprises, no matter final totals.Both "You Shouldn't Be Scared of the Dark" and "Our Idiot Brother" could attract similar auds -- namely, femmes under 25 -- though "Brother" also boasts strong interest from male moviegoers. Both limit some more youthful auds given their R rankings.Created by Guillermo del Toro, "You Shouldn't Be Scared of the Dark" stars Katie Holmes, Guy Pearce and Bailee Madison. Pic was funded by Miramax for any reported $28 million (FilmDistrict acquired distribution privileges following the Disney-Miramax divorce). FilmDistrict, which footed the P&A bill, promoted the film heavily according to recognition for del Toro.Meanwhile, "Our Idiot Brother," which toplines Paul Rudd because the title brother or sister, cost Weinstein $six million being released of Sundance, by having an added minimum P&Dedication around $15 million. Elizabeth Banks, Emily Mortimer and Zooey Deschanel co-star as Rudd's siblings.The weekend's third wide release, "Colombiana," was fully funded and promoted by Europa Corp. The new sony signed onto distribute the film Stateside through its TriStar label, in addition to handle some Latin American areas. Pic informs the storyline of the youthful lady, performed by Zoe Saldana, who after seeing the murder of her parents, matures to become an assassin.A set of Sundance photos, "Greater Ground" and "Circumstance," bow in limited release."Greater Ground," Vera Farmiga's directorial debut from The new sony Pictures Classics, opens at three locations in New You are able to and L.A., while Kerbside Attractions' Iranian gay-designed drama "Circumstance" bows today in a total seven U.S. playdates. Contact Andrew Stewart at andrew.stewart@variety.com