‘The Help’ hang-on top storm box office

LOS ANGELES: The hard-working maids of "The Help" hung on to the top of a storm-battered box office over the weekend and beat a trio of new releases with $14.3 million in domestic ticket sales, studio estimates released on Sunday showed.

Hurricane Irene forced the closure of theatres in big markets such as New York and kept moviegoers home along a broad stretch of the East Coast. Domestic ticket sales came in 23 percent lower than the same weekend a year earlier

Copyright Reuters, 2011