"The Help" Tops Box Office For 3rd Straight Week

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- "The Help" has stayed on the job over Labor Day, finishing as the No. 1 film for the third-straight weekend.

According to studio estimates Monday, the acclaimed drama about Southern black maids took in $19 million over the long holiday weekend.

That raised the film's domestic total to $123.4 million.

"The Help" has been a triumph amid a rush of late-summer duds that ended Hollywood's busiest season. Another batch of new movies this weekend packed in modest-to-small crowds.

Best among the newcomers was Helen Mirren's Holocaust-revenge thriller "The Debt" at No. 2 with $12.6 million from Friday to Monday.

The sci-fi horror tale "Apollo 18" opened at No. 3 with $10.7 million. Another fright flick, "Shark Night 3D," debuted at No. 4 with $10.3 million.

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