'Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs 2' Scoffs At US Box Office Competition

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, despite receiving mixed reviews, has gained over $34 million at the US weekend Box Office. The film was released on Friday (27th September), and received mixed, although generally positive reviews. Some critics described the film as "wildly cute" and "colourful" (Miriam Bale, New York Times), but many felt the film lack originality particularly the "the original film's intelligence" (Sean O'Connell, Washington Post).

However, such comments do not appear to have discouraged many from seeing the second instalment in the Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs franchise, quite the contrary as the film beat off its competition by at least $20 million. The other films in the Box Office are more equally spread, figures wise, with Prisoners (down from No.1 last week) and Rush (up from No.38) each gaining $10 million.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 is the only children's animation currently in the top ten, so it's hardly surprising it's done so well. In the sequel to the 2009 animation, Flint Lockwood returns and is forced to return to Swallow Falls. Lockwood is up against food monsters, spawned from Lockwood's food machine. The scientist (voiced by Bill Hader) is aided by his former fellow townspeople including meteorologist Sam Sparks (Anna Faris); Lockwood's dad, Tim (James Caan); Terry Crews as Officer Earl and Andy Samberg as Brent. Neil Patrick Harris reprises his role as Lockwood's helper monkey Steve.

Watch the movie trailer for Cloudy with A Chance of Meatballs 2:

In addition to Cloudy, two other new films have entered the top ten this week. They include Don Jon, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt (who also wrote and directed the movie); and Baggage Claim, a mediocre comedy starring Paula Patton. Respectively, these two films placed at no. 4 and 5.

Another comedy to have placed respectively is The Family. Robert De Niro stars in the movie, a crime comedy surrounding the illegal dealings of a mafia family in France. The film achieved 7th place in the Box Office, raking in $3.7 million.