Smooth animation, strong word of mouth and a boost from 3D showings spun Sony Animation’s Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs into an easy box office win with an estimated $30.1 million Friday through Sunday opening.
While audiences flocked to see giant food fall from the sky, the other three newcomers this past weekend struggled to draw numbers. The Informant! with Matt Damon took second place with $10.5 million while Love Happens with Jennifer Aniston happened into $8.5 million despite depressing reviews.
The biggest flop was Diablo Cody’s Jennifer’s Body starring Megan Fox in her first leading role. Not even Megan making out with another girl could pull in more than $6.8 million and a fifth place debut.
Making a quick exit from the top 10 is Kate Beckinsale’s Whiteout which stumbled to a $5.1 million opening last week. Tyler Perry’s I Can Do Bad All By Myself dropped more than 50% down to $10.1 million which was still good enough for second place.
The complete box office results for September 18 – 20 are as follows (click linked titles to read our review):
- 1. Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs: $30.1m
- 2. The Informant!: $10.5m
- 3. I Can Do Bad All By Myself: $10.1m
- 4. Love Happens: $8.5m
- 5. Jennifer’s Body: $6.8m
- 6. 9: $5.5m
- 7. Inglourious Basterds: $3.6m
- 8. All About Steve: $3.4m
- 9. Sorority Row: $2.5m
- 10. The Final Destination: $2.4m
Three new films open next weekend including the remake of Fame, Surrogates with Bruce Willis and the sci-fi space horror thriller Pandorum. Try to predict what each of these films will make when our Weekend Box Office Prophet game launches on Tuesday.
