Adult moviegoers drove the Labor Day weekend box office as the drama The Help [THELP] finished first for a third straight time and the thriller The Debt [TDEBT] debuted in second place. The Help swept up an estimated $19.0 million over the four day weekend to bring its total to $123.4 million.
The spy thriller The Debt grossed $12.6 million from Friday to Monday brninging its 6-day total to $14.5 million. The film brought out the mature audience as 70% of was 40 and older and 50% was 50 and older.
Apollo 18 [APO18] landed in third place with $10.7 million over the long weekend. The found footage horror film attracted primarily a male audience.
Shark Night 3D [SHK3D] took in $10.3 million to finish in fourth place. The killer fish thriller appealed mianly to the 25 and under crowd.
| Rank | TITLE | F-S-S-M | TOTAL |
| 1 | THE HELP | $19,000,000 | $123,391,000 |
| 2 | THE DEBT | $12,551,000 | $14,453,000 |
| 3 | APOLLO 18 | $10,700,000 | $10,700,000 |
| 4 | SHARK NIGHT 3D | $10,300,000 | $10,300,000 |
| 5 | RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES | $10,250,000 | $162,475,000 |
| 6 | COLOMBIANA | $9,400,000 | $23,962,000 |
| 7 | OUR IDIOT BROTHER | $7,045,000 | $17,280,000 |
| 8 | SPY KIDS: ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD | $6,608,000 | $31,007,000 |
| 9 | DON'T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK | $6,144,000 | $17,585,000 |
| 10 | THE SMURFS | $5,600,000 | $133,553,000 |
| 11 | CRAZY, STUPID, LOVE | $4,320,000 | $75,528,000 |
| 12 | HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PT. 2 | $3,325,000 | $375,470,000 |
Tag(s): THELP, TDEBT, APO18, SHK3D