After three weekends at number one (and twenty five consecutive days), The Help has been handed its box office pink slip. As expected, Warner Brothers’ disease-thriller Contagion was the clear winner on Friday; taking in an estimated $8 million from 3,222 locations. The Steven Soderbergh film, and its cast of thousands, is expected to earn just over $20 million through Sunday – more than double the projection for Friday’s number two, The Help. Of course, Contagion benefitted from the fact that it also had nearly double the screen count of Friday’s other new releases. Lionsgate’s mixed martial arts drama Warrior debuted at just 1,869 locations and took in an estimated $1.8 million on Friday for what should be a $6 million weekend. Finally, the R-rated Happy Madison comedy Bucky Larson: Born to be a Star debuted with just $540,000 from 1,500 venues for what will surely be one of the sorriest debuts of 2011. Details and analysis tomorrow.
| Title | Friday | Total | |
| 1 | Contagion | $8,030,000 | $8 |
| 2 | The Help | $2,672,000 | $131 |
| 3 | Warrior | $1,800,000 | $1.8 |
| 4 | The Debt | $1,442,000 | $18.5 |
| 5 | Colombiana | $1,200,000 | $26.9 |
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It is unfortunate that Warrior isn’t in the lead. It is one of the year’s best films and it is a heavy awards contender.