Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 storms UK box office

Somewhat appropriately given last night’s storm, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 has debuted top of the UK box office.

Sony’s animated sequel scored a $5.9m (£3.66m) debut, including $2.5m (£1.55m) in previews, to dethrone Turbo. That’s a debut over double its predecessor’s $2.6m (£1.6m) UK bow, and almost half its overall UK run of $10.5m (£6.5m) already.

With half term in full swing and as long as the weather holds off, there’s every chance Cloudy 2 will have surpassed that tally before next weekend.

Cloudy 2’s debut also marks Sony’s best opening of 2013, but Captain Phillips holds the distributor’s highest Fri-Sun performance with $4.9m (£3m).

Marking a Sony one-two combo at the top of the UK chart, Captain Phillips posted an excellent hold, dropping just 19% for $3m (£2.44m).

As with last week, Paul Greengrass’ thriller led the Fri-Sun weekend, ahead of Cloudy 2’s $3.4m (£2.1m), and stands at an impressive $12.8m (£7.9m) having added $7.2m (£4.2m) over the past seven days.

In terms of Greengrass films in the UK, Captain Phillips is now only behind the director’s two Bourne outings and has a great chance of surpassing The Bourne Supremacy’s $18.7m (£11.6m). The Bourne Ultimatum’s $38.9m (£24m) is likely to prove a step too far though.

PARAMOUNT

Charting third on debut, Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa is off to a strong start in the UK with a confirmed bow of $3.1m (£1.94m) from its 372 sites.

The opening includes $884,000 (£546,000) in previews, and marks the biggest opening for the Jackass franchise in the UK, topping Jackass 3D’s $2.7m (£1.7m) from 373 sites.

It’s worth noting however that the opening for Jackass 3D was without previews, so based solely on Fri-Sun, Bad Grandpa’s $2.3m (£1.39m) is behind Jackass 3D, but Bad Grandpa didn’t benefit from a 3D boost.

To become the franchise’s best ever UK performer, Bad Grandpa has Jackass 3D’s $9.1m (£5.64m) to surpass.

Also for Paramount, animated sequel The Reef 2: High Tide posted a soft $43,600 (£26,910) from its 110 sites, some way short of The Reef’s $337,000 (£208,259) UK bow from 209 sites.

FOX

Last week’s champion Turbo fell 38% (excluding previews) as it grossed $2.1m (£1.3m) to drop to fourth.

Fox’s animation now stands at $10.1m (£6.2m), with Bee Movie the next DreamWorks Animation title in its sights at $15.3m (£9.4m).

Also for Fox, Enough Said has grossed $601,000 (£370,902) after ten days in play following a $150,000 (£92,821) second weekend.

Baggage Claim and Runner Runner stand at $688,000 (£424,819) and $4.4m (£2.7m) after three and five weeks in play, respectively.

EONE

Rounding off this week’s top five, eOne’s Ender’s Game recorded a solid debut of $1.9m (£1.2m) from its 424 sites.

That’s an average of $4,410 (£2,721), and marks director Gavin Hood’s second biggest UK debut behind X-Men Origins: Wolverine’s $10.8m (£6.7m) bow from 488 sites.

Also for eOne, Escape Plan fell almost 50% in its second weekend to add $810,000 (£499,663) from its 363 sites for $3.2m (£2m) to date. Director Mikael Håfström’s best UK performer is currently 1408’s $5.3m (£3.3m) result.

Critically acclaimed drama Prisoners stands at a strong $11m (£6.8m) following a $513,000 (£316,669) fifth weekend.

ENTERTAINMENT

David Frankel’s biopic of Paul Potts, One Chance, recorded an estimated $1.1m (£700,000) UK debut through Entertainment to chart sixth.

If the estimate holds up, that would mark Frankel’s fourth best UK opening behind Hope Springs ($1.2m/£728,689), The Devil Wears Prada ($5.3m/£3.3m) and Marley & Me ($7.2m/£4.4m).

WARNER BROS

Woody Allen’s latest Blue Jasmine added $342,000 (£212,747) this weekend to climb to $7.4m (£4.59m) so far in the UK through Warner Bros.

STUDIOCANAL

Now in its seventh week of release, StudioCanal’s Rush added an estimated $200,000 (£123,000) for $15.8m (£9.8m) to date.

UNIVERSAL

Ahead of the half term, Universal’s Despicable Me 2 recorded a 50% rise in its 18th week, grossing a further $192,000 (£119,000) for $75.8m (£46.97m) to date.

Also for Universal, About Time stands at $12.1m (£7.51m) after a $48,400 (£30,000) eighth weekend.

Closed Circuit recorded a $30,700 (£19,000) debut at a soft $329 (£204) average.

CURZON FILM WORLD

Now in its third week of release, Le Week-end crossed the £1m mark to stand at $1.7m (£1.1m).

DISNEY

Ahead of the release of Thor: The Dark World on Wednesday [Oct 30], Disney’s animations Monsters University and Planes have amassed $49m (£30.3m) and $14m (£8.7m), respectively.

Monsters University received a 9% boost week-on-week, and both films could receive mini boosts given this week’s half term.

ARTIFICIAL EYE

Released in 34 sites through Artificial Eye, The Selfish Giant posted a $125,000 (£77,507) debut to mark director Clio Barnard’s best-ever UK bow, ahead of The Arbor’s $27,300 (£16,883) debut from 17 sites.

ARROW FILMS

With limited screenings across its 17 sites, Arrow’s Cannes jury prize winner Like Father, Like Son added $16,300 (£10,061) for $58,400 (£36,067) after ten days in play.

Having played two days and one main evening show on Sunday [Oct 27], The Taste of Money posted a $1,500 (£955) UK debut from its two sites through Arrow.

DOGWOOF

Released in eight sites through Dogwoof, Muscle Shoals recorded a $13,200 (£8,150) UK bow.

UPCOMING RELEASES

This week’s only saturation release comes in the form of Disney’s Thor: The Dark World (opens Oct 30), while Fox’s Philomena, Verve’s Short Term 12 and Eros’ Krrish 3 all receive wide releases.

Lionsgate’s The Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghosts of Georgia, Sony’s Drinking Buddies and StudioCanal’s Child’s Pose are among the films receiving a limited release.