On the whole, the weather at the nation's box office was overcast this past weekend. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, the sequel to the memorably titled animation film, took the No. 1 ranking in theaters on its debut. Box Office Mojo said the cheerful film, distributed by Sony's (SNE +0.19%) Columbia, raked in about $35 million over the period. That's better than the $30.3 million tally recorded by its predecessor when it opened in 2009.
A far different film, the dark crime suspenser Prisoners, fell to second place from the previous weekend's top position. According to Box Office Mojo figures the film's ticket take dropped 46% on a week-over-week basis, but that was still good enough to garner it $11.3 million. Time Warner (TWX +0.00%) arm Warner Bros. distributes the movie.
Racing in third position was the period Formula 1 saga Rush. On its opening weekend, the film took in $10.3 million, Box Office Mojo said. Directed by Hollywood veteran Ron Howard, Rush is distributed by Comcast's (CMCSA +0.00%) Universal.
Fourth and fifth place were taken by two other debuting movies, the comedies Baggage Claim and Don Jon. The former, starring Paula Patton, claimed $9.3 million in ticket receipts while the latter was close behind with $9 million, according to Box Office Mojo. 21st Century Fox unit Fox Searchlight distributes Baggage Claim, while privately held Relativity is responsible for Don Jon.
