"Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2" strong, "Rush", "Don Jon", "Baggage Claim" weak at the weekend box office

The Oscar season is about to go full steam ahead, which doesn't quite equal box office grosses. Despite a strong film in 1st place, the rest of the box office was rather flat this weekend, amounting to only $107 million. However, there was good news for Sony Pictures. After a dismal summer that included one underperformer (Elysium) and two outright bombs (White House Down and After Earth), Columbia Pictures is looking to regain some ground. They finally did this weekend with their animation division's Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2. The lackluster animated film took in $35 million this weekend, which is good, but slightly disappointing. It was a stronger opening that it's predecessor, but not as strong as last year's Hotel Transylvania. It received an "A-" Cinemascore from audiences however, and I see no reason that Cloudy 2 won't pass $100 million with no competition in the coming months.

In second place this weekend was last week's #1, Prisoners. The kidnapping drama, starring Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal took in another $11.2 million. That's enough for a total of $38.9 million after a 46% drop from last weekend. The Oscar contender could keep the word of mouth strong going into the October month and come out with as much as $75 million. Sadly, Ron Howard's Rush finished in third place this weekend with a disappointing $10.3 million. The film did receive an "A-" Cinemascore, which indicates that it could hold strong in the future, but I know that Universal had higher hopes. I absolutely loved the movie, and will post a review soon. 

Fourth place belonged to Fox Searchlight's Baggage Claim, a critically panned romantic comedy from director David Talbert starring Paula Patton. The film, targeted at African-American audiences, took in a total of $9.3 million, along with an "A-" Cinemascore. That's a solid start for what I assume was a modestly budgeted film. In fifth place was without a doubt, the most disappointing and most unsurprising opening of the weekend, the $9 million grossed by Don Jon. That's not a terrible start for the directorial debut of Joseph Gordon-Levitt. But what is truly terrible is the "C+" Cinemascore that audiences gave the film. Don Jon is a dramedy about porn that was marketed as a romcom. Now it will pay the price. 

Farther down the line was Insidious-Chapter 2 in sixth place. The horror film grossed $6.7 million, raising its total to $69.5 million. The Family also held strong with $3.6 million in seventh place for a total of $31.6 million. Instructions Not Included became the highest grossing Spanish language film ever in the US with a $3.3 million weekend in eighth place for a total of $38.5 million. We're the Millers took in another $2.8 million in ninth place to raise its impressive total to $142.4 million. And finally, Lee Daniels' The Butler grabbed another $2.4 million in tenth place to raise its total to $110.2 million. Also the James Gandolfini-starred Enough Said grossed $2.1 million in a limited expansion and Metallica Through the Never grossed $1.6 million on IMAX screens before an expansion next weekend. 

Next weekend sees the expansion of Metallica Through the Never, Runner Runner and the highly anticipated Gravity. Here are my predictions:

1. Gravity- $46.5 million

2. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2- $20 million

3. Runner Runner- $14.7 million

4. Rush- $7.2 million

5. Prisoners- $7.1 million

6. Metallica Through the Never- $6.5 million

7. Baggage Claim- $6 million

8. Don Jon- $4.9 million

9. Insidious Chapter 2- $4.1 million

10. The Family- $2.5 million