Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2? More like cloudy with a chance of $ 35 million, as the animated hit is forecasted to chow down on its box office competition.
When final figures come in Monday, the inevitable sequel to the 2009 hit is expected to coast to the top of the charts at theaters in its opening weekend.
The debut met most analysts' expectations and ends September, a normally sluggish month at the box office, on a flourish for the movie industry.
Even if reviews were mixed on the sequel, critics agree that its success illustrates the hunger families have for something compelling to see with kids.
So much so that it thrashed two films many believe to be early awards contenders, Ron Howard's racing thriller Rush and Hugh Jackman's crime drama Prisoners.
Those two movies battled for a distant second, with Prisoners' $ 11.2 million (in its second week in theaters) looking to be enough of a haul to claim it.
Rush took third with $ 10.3 million in its first weekend of release. The Paula Patton comedy Baggage Claim was in fourth place with $ 9.3 million.
Rounding out the top five? Don Jon, the raunchy comedy and directorial debut of Joseph Gordon-Levitt, with a respectable $ 9 million thus far.
Here's the top five at the box office according to early estimates:
- Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2: $ 35 million.
- Prisoners: $ 11.2 million.
- Rush: $ 10.3 million.
- Baggage Claim: $ 9.3 million.
- Don Jon: $ 9 million.
