Warner Bros.' Matt Damon quirky comedy 'The Informant!' took second with $3.7 million.
With a smorgasbord of choices at the multiplex, including headliners by Jennifer Aniston, Matt Damon and Megan Fox; Friday moviegoers’ savored Sony’s 3-D toon "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs," shelling out $8.1 million.
"Meatballs" easily earned the best opening day ever for a Sony Pictures Animation feature, out-pegging its previous champ "Open Season" which made $6.2 million in the fall of 2006. With 1,828 of the 3,119 playdates for "Meatballs" being 3-D equipped, Sony is sure to see an opening frame that outstrips the $23.2 million generated by "Season," particularly during the school year when weekend matinees make all the difference to a family film at the B.O.
In addition, "Meatballs" beat the opening day of Sony’s summer 2006 3-D motion-captured animated pic "Monster House" ($7.4 million), however, that film wasn’t produced under the Culver City studio’s toon unit.
Among wide releases, "Meatballs" owned the day’s highest theater average with $2,596.
Based on the popular children’s book by Judi and Ron Barrett, "Meatballs" features the voices of James Caan, Anna Farris, Lauren Graham, Neil Patrick Harris and a number of "Saturday Night Live" thesps including Bill Hader, Will Forte and Andy Samberg.
Warner Bros.’ R-rated caper comedy "The Informant!" slotted second with an estimated $3.7 million off 2,505 in line with the studio’s expectations. "Informant" tells the story about a neurotic exec at an agri-industry company who turns whistleblower and exposes his firm’s price-fixing tactics to the FBI. Taking an avant-garde approach toward casting, director Steven Soderbergh enlisted an array of comedic performers to perform straight-person roles in the pic including Joel McHale, Patton Oswalt and Paul F. Tompkins among several others.
Last weekend’s number one film, "Tyler Perry’s I Can Do Bad All By Myself" slid 64% to third yesterday with $3.09 million off 2,255. In eight days, "Bad" is currently counting a domestic B.O. of $31 million.
Universal’s romantic drama "Love Happens" with Jennifer Aniston and Aaron Eckhart opened in fourth with $3.08 million off 1,898 engagements. While that figure is at the lower end of the spectrum in terms of Aniston’s opening days at the B.O., that number can be attributed to "Happens" theater count, which is lower than usual for the actress. Aniston’s recent vehicles have cleared respectable opening B.O. figures with 2,900-plus bookings. U has little to lose on "Happens" given the pic’s price tag of $18 million and that fact that it is financed 50-50 with Relativity Media.
Fox’s R-rated horror-comedy "Jennifer’s Body" penned by Diablo Cody and starring Megan Fox and Amanda Seyfried took hold of fifth with $2.8 million off 2,702. Despite the latest brouhaha over the lackluster performance of horror films, the production cost for "Jennifer" is an estimated, thrifty $16 million.
Currently counting a domestic total of $107.5 million, Weinstein Co.’s "Inglourious Basterds" is on the verge of becoming Quentin Tarantino’s highest grossing film at the domestic box office today, surpassing the $107.97 million racked up 1994’s "Pulp Fiction." During the latter end of its run, the B.O. for "Pulp Fiction" was propelled toward the century mark thanks in part to its Oscar noms. "Basterds" ranked sixth yesterday with $1.2 million, dipping 36% on 2,519.
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