LOS ANGELES — “The Help” remained Hollywood’s top draw with $14.3 million on a slow late-summer weekend whose business was even more sluggish as many East Coast theaters closed to ride out the storm there.

Irene was downgraded from a hurricane to a tropical storm Sunday, but the weekend already was a lost cause for many theaters in its path. Studio executives estimate that about 1,000 theaters shut down for at least part of the weekend and that business may have been off 15 to 20 percent because of the storm.

“The Help” has been the No. 1 film for two-straight weekends. Its domestic total should cross the $100 million mark Tuesday.

Zoe Saldana’s action tale “Colombiana,” released by Sony, opened in second-place with $10.3 million. Guy Pearce and Katie Holmes’ horror story “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark,” a FilmDistrict release, debuted in third with $8.7 million. Paul Rudd’s comedy “Our Idiot Brother,” distributed by the Weinstein Co., premiered at No. 5 with $6.6 million.