Forcing the closure of cinemas in major cities along the US east coast such as New York, Hurricane Irene knocked down the US domestic ticket sales by 23 compared to the taking of the same weekend from last year.
Paul Dergarabedian, box office analyst from Hollywood.com, who had published these results, was not surprised. “There was no question the hurricane had a significant negative impact on ticket sales,” he said.
“That said, this was never preordained to be a blockbuster kind of weekend and late August is typically a slowdown period for the summer movie season,” he added.
In spite the adversity of nature, the newly-released action movie Colombiana, made an estimated 10.3 million, beating studio forecast of 8 million and taking second place behind the black maids drama The Help, which continued to crown the box office for a second week, grossing 96.6 million since it opened three weeks ago.
Colombiana, starring Avatar’s Zoe Saldana, tells the story of a woman who witnesses the murder of her parent as child and grows to be an assassinate seeking revenge.
Guillermo Del Toro’s produced horror movie Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, staring Katie Holms and Guy Pearce, finished third with sales of 8.7 million.
Sci-fi movie Rise of the Planet of the Ape is still strong after five weeks in theatres, finishing fourth with 8.7 million. The movie, starring James Franco and Andy Serkis, has grossed 307 million.