Answer: It's getting there.
RELATED: Which films won the summer movie war?
The feel-good take on the Civil Rights struggle closed out Hollywood's record-grossing beach season with its third-straight No. 1 finish.
The victory gives Emma Stone bragging rights over Johnny Depp, Harry Potter, Captain America and all the other real and fictional boys of summer. The Help is the only Summer 2011 film to nab the No. 1 spot three times.
The third time was definitely the charm. The film saw ticket sales barely dip from last weekend, and pushed its overall domestic total to $118.6 million.
To make it four straight wins, The Help will have to get some help, or, more likely, a miracle. The Matt Damon-led Contagion will be the film to beat next weekend.
Elsewhere, a batch of new releases, from Helen Mirren's The Debt, to the Blair Witch-esque Apollo 18, to the answer to an American Idol trivia question, Shark Night 3D (i.e., "Name a Katharine McPhee movie?"), offered little resistance to The Help.
Another new movie, A Good Old Fashioned Orgy, starring Jason Sudeikis, offered little returns to theater owners. The comedy averaged less than $800 at each of its 145 screens.
Among the holdovers, Rise of the Planet of the Apes kept on keeping on, and raised its domestic take to $160 million, while The Smurfs kept on confounding doubters and haters, and upped its worldwide total to nearly $428 million and counting.
A pair of remakes and/or relaunches, Conan the Barbarian and Fright Night, both made quick exits from the Top 10. Each lasted but two weekends. Neither grossed as much as $20 million domestically.
Conan alone distinguished itself as one of the late-breaking bombs of summer. The $90 million movie so far as only made $41 million worldwide, per Box Office Mojo.
Overall, Hollywood's Labor Day weekend is off to a start no worse or better than last year's. Check back here tomorrow for complete, four-day totals.
Meanwhile, here's how the weekend's top-grossing films currently shape up, per estimates compiled by Exhibitor Relations:
1. The Help, $14.2 million
2. The Debt, $9.7 million
3. Apollo 18, $8.7 million
4. Shark Night 3D, $8.6 million
5. Rise of the Planet of the Apes, $7.8 million
6. Colombiana, $7.4 million
7. Our Idiot Brother, $5.2 million
8. Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, $4.9 million
9. Spy Kids: All the Time in the World in 4D, $4.6 million
10. The Smurfs, $4 million
