Continuing this year’s trend of 3D blockbusters, Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs opened at the top this weekend with $30.1 million in ticket stubs. Higher 3D ticket prices, overall good critical reviews, and a lack of other family-friendly fare in the theaters all combined to give the animated flick a higher opening gross than the weekend’s other three new releases combined.
The weekend’s other new releases all made lackluster showings despite having a good bit of star power shining behind them: The Matt Damon-starring, Steven Soderbergh-directed The Informant! came in at No. 2 with a so-so $10.54 million; Jennifer Aniston continued her run of ho-hum romantic comedies with Love Happens, which bowed at No. 4 with $8.46 million, behind last week’s top contender, Tyler Perry’s I Can Do Bad All By Myself, at No. 3 with $10.06 million; and despite being everywhere at all times, Megan Fox only pulled out a No. 5 showing with the Diablo Cody-penned Jennifer’s Body, which took in a bleak $6.8 million.
Despite being added to 400 new theaters, the animated sci-fi film 9 dropped from No. 2 to No. 6 in its second weekend with $5.46 million. Inglourious Basterds continued its extended run through the top 10, landing at No. 7 with $3.6 million in its fifth week, making it director Quentin Tarantino’s highest-grossing film to date, surpassing Pulp Fiction (that is, if you choose to ignore ticket-price inflation). Dismally reviewed All About Steve dropped a not-too-bad 40 percent to No. 8 with $3.4 million, while Sorority Row and The Final Destination duked it out for worst-of-the-best honors: The former just edged out the latter at No. 9 with $2.49 million to TFD’s $2.36 million.
In limited release, Jane Campion’s widely acclaimed Bright Star repped a good start for nascent distributor Apparition Films, earning $10,000 per screen. Business should hold steady over the coming weeks, as Campion’s John Keats biopic appears to be a lock for year-end awards consideration. Also performing well was Claire Denis’ superb 35 Shots Of Rum, which took in $10,600 in its Film Forum debut, thanks to reviews so strong that its Metacritic score was 100 at one point. (It has since diminished to a paltry 96, which still makes it the best-reviewed movie of 2009 so far.)
More detailed numbers can be found at boxofficemojo.com