"The Help" will likely conquer "Conan" at box office

Reuters

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - "Conan the Barbarian" is set to be conquered by the travails of polite Southern Society this weekend, as projections suggest that the multi-racial drama, "The Help," will lead the domestic market in its second weekend.

The DreamWorks drama -- No. 2 at the box office during its opening weekend -- is expected to rise to No. 1 this weekend, taking in a projected $20 million. It grossed $25.5 million in its debut last weekend.

Meanwhile, debuting in 3,015 theaters in the U.S. and Canada, "Conan the Barbarian" is a remake of the 1982 movie that launched Arnold Schwarzenegger's career.

The R-rated $70 million movie, produced by Millennium/Nu Image and distributed by Lionsgate, is projected to gross in the mid-to-high teens this weekend.

It stars Jason Momoa as Conan -- just Conan. (Don't ask him if he has a last name.) Ron Perlman, Rose McGowan, Stephen Lang and Rachel Nichols also star in the film, which has a how-low-can-you-go Rotten Tomatoes rating of 27 percent.

Fox's "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" -- No. 1 with $54.8 million last weekend -- is up against "Conan" for the No. 2 spot.

Meanwhile, the box office has lots of counter-programming on offer: a kids adventure "Spy Kids: All the Time in the World 3D", a horror story in Disney's "Fright Night and an Anne Hathaway romance in Focus Features' "One Day" - something for all audiences.

"Spy Kids: All the Time in the World in 4D" is looking at an $11 million to $15 million weekend.

What's 4D? Smell, duh.

The fourth installment of a franchise Bob and Harvey Weinstein started a decade ago at Miramax is being released in "Aromascope." That means audiences will receive scratch and sniff cards. It'll be in 3D, too, in 40 percent of its 3,295 opening weekend theaters.

The movie, directed by Robert Rodriguez, cost an estimated $27 million to make and is rated PG.

If scratch and sniff spy kids doesn't sound scary, maybe "Fright Night" will.

The R-rated film from Disney is a remake of the 1985 cult horror classic that. This version, directed by Craig Gillespie, is being projected to take in $12 million to $14 million at 3,114 theaters. It cost $17 million to make and stars Colin Farrell as a vampire.

The movie has a Rotten Tomatoes score of 74 percent.

Also debuting this weekend, Focus Features' "One Day," a romance spanning decades.

The movie, directed by Lone Scherfig ("An Education") is being projected to take in between $6 million and $7.5 million at about 1,600 theaters.

The PG-13 movie stars Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess.