Sony’s 3D animated feature “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” got off to a saucy start to its opening weekend with an estimated $8.1 million in Friday coin — tops among all domestic grossers.
That should allow “Meatballs” to cook up a speecy-spicy weekend bow of up to $30 million, provided family grosses prove hearty for the PG pic when matinees kick in on Saturday and Sunday. Production costs on the pic pushed $100 million.
Warner Brothers’ “The Informant!” — a Matt Damon-toplined whistleblower thriller — saw a first-day haul of $3.7 million in second place. That was in keeping with weekend expectations for the Steven Soderbergh-helmed film, which should ring up somewhere in the low double-digit millions through Sunday.
Tyler Perry’s “I Can Do Bad All by Myself” from Lionsgate grabbed third place at the start of its second weekend with $3.1 million, or 64% less than registered during its first Friday a week earlier.
“Bad” now totes cumulative boxoffice totaling $30 million from its first eight days in release.
Universal’s romantic drama “Love Happens” — starring Aaron Eckhart and Jennifer Aniston — wooed $3.1 million in a soft fourth-place bow on Friday.
But the big news of the day was buried down in fifth place, where Fox’s Megan Fox starrer, “Jennifer’s Body,” was buried with just $2.8 million.
The R-rated horror pic had been expected to open in second place this weekend and at least flirt with teen millions. But the paltry first-day sum means it won’t break into the double-digit millions through Sunday.
