Summer may be unofficially over but it is definitely official that the Summer movie season is done. You can tell how done it is by looking at the weekend box office estimates, which has The Help holding onto the number one spot for a third weekend in a row. I’m not putting down The Help, which I haven’t seen but assume it is a weepy chick flick super movie, it’s just that Summer movies tend to be dominated by loud noises, big explosions, weak scripts and physics-defying action, all of which, I’m fairly certain can’t be found in The Help. For further evidence that Summer has left the box office, consider that The Help was number one on a weekend that saw three new Summer movies (see definition above) premier. The Debt, Apollo 18 and Shark Night 3D arrived in that order (respectively) behind The Help, which outsold The Debt by more than $6,000 over the four day weekend.
Rise of the Planet of the Apes rounded out the top five and a couple of heavy weights set some new records. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 witched it’s way past Spider-Man 2 to become the 14th highest grossing movie ever. Transformers: Dark of the Moon crossed the $350 million milestone and became the 18th highest grosser ever.
So now that the Summer movie season is over and we have a few weeks until the holiday season gets started, lets all take a moment to look back at the movies of Summer 2011.  The trend to launch the season before Memorial Day proved to be a good idea for Thor,  which opened on May 6 and then the box office only got more exciting from there with great movies like Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, X-Men First Class, The Hangover 2, Bridesmaids, Super 8, Harry Potter, Transformers, Captain America, The Smurfs, Planet of the Apes and finally The Help.
There were also some duds over the past few months. Remember Priest? What about Green Lantern, Cars 2, Zookeppers or Cowboys & Aliens?
I’m sure that I’m forgetting some good and not so good Summer movies. What was your favorite Summer movie and/or which do you think was the most disappointing? Â Let us know in the comment section and have a look at the final top 10 of the Summer below.
Here is the top 10 for the weekend of September 2 to the 5th, 2011:
1. The Help (BV, $19,000,000)
2. The Debt (Focus, $12,551,000)
3. Apollo 18 (Weinstein Co./Dim., $10,700,000)
4. Shark Night 3D (Rela., $10,300,000)
5. Rise of the Planet of the Apes (Fox, $10,250,000)
6. Colombiana (TriS, $9,400,000)
7. Our Idiot Brother (Weinstein Co.,$7,045,000)
8. Spy Kids: All the Time in the World (Weinstein/Dim.,$6,608,000)
9. Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark (FD, $6,144,000)
10. The Smurfs (Sony, $5,600,000)