Box Office: Woody Soars, Hanks-Roberts Fails, Apes Scores, ‘Help’ Cleans Up

It’s time to catch up with the summer box office. Woody Allen‘s “Midnight in Paris” is about to hit $50 mil domestically. This is just great. Everyone loves this movie! Watch for “Midnight” to be a huge awards mover and shaker. Meanwhile, “The Help” opened beautifully, taking in $35 million already. This exceptionally good drama will also be back for awards season, mark my words. Viola Davis, Olivia Spencer, and — yes– Bryce Dallas Howard–are all going to be names in the mix. Even with a ton of Oscar-pointed films coming in the next three months, these two films are going to stay in vogue. Meanwhile, the failure film of the summer has to be “Larry Crowne.” Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts only managed to bring in a total of $35 million. (The theatrical run is more or less over.) Of course, no one took salaries up front. If they had, wow, oh my god. But with deferred payments, “Larry Crowne” is still a bust and a half. It was a half baked movie, that’s for sure. Meanwhile, the surprise hit, both financially and artistically is “Rise of the Planet of the Apes.” James Franco and co. finish the weekend with $104 million total and lots of kudos. It’s not an awards movie, but it’s the beginning of a smart franchise.