Weekend Box Office: Cloudy with a chance of hitting number one

This weekend at the national box office, the forecast is looking crowded as four new films enter the fray, featuring the likes of Jennifer Aniston, Matt Damon, Megan Fox, Bill Hader and Amanda Seyfried. With a fairly wide variety of films to choose from, the box office should continue to pick up steam as fall officially gets underway in a few days.

Based on the children's novel by Ron and Judi Barrett, "Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs" looks to take the top spot at the box office and possibly by a wide margin. The marketing campaign by Sony Pictures has been pretty aggressive, and its 3,117-screen count (more than half devoted to 3-D presentations) will no doubt help drive grosses quite high during the crucial Saturday and Sunday matinee periods (pricier tickets for the 3-D showings won't hurt either). On top of that, the film has received a fair shake from the critics (86% approval rating thus far from Rotten Tomatoes), which is rare these days for a CG-animated feature that doesn't have the word "Pixar" associated with it. Watch for "Meatballs" to drop around $27 million this weekend.

It's been two years since the indie comedy "Juno" made its screenwriter, Diablo Cody, a bit of a celebrity and the receipient of a Best Original Screenplay Oscar. Well, Diablo is back and this time, she isn't exactly writing award-worthy material. The horror/comedy (I am guessing it's supposed to be funny) "Jennifer's Body" stars "Transformers" babe Megan Fox and "Mama Mia!"s Amanda Seyfried in a tale of a popular girl and her dorky friend whose friendship takes some strange turns after Jennifer becomes possessed by a demon. The film is aimed squarely at the teen market despite the 'R' rating, the fact that this is the second horror film released within a week's time (Remember "Sorority Row"? Thought not) and who could care less about the less-than-kind critical receiption, which is right around 39% (or roughly 18% better than Fox's last film, "Transformers 2"). Landing in just over 2,700 theaters, watch for "Jennifer's Body" to attract roughly $17 million this weekend.

With kids and teens pretty much covered by "Meatballs" and "Jennifer", adults may find some interest in the new Matt Damon/Steven Soderbergh comedy "The Informant!". Based on a true story, "Informant!" gives Damon one of his best non-Jason Bourne roles as a corporate whistleblower who only makes matters worse for himself each and every time he opens his mouth. The subject matter could have made for a pretty serious drama, and could have fallen apart as a black comedy were it in other, less capable hands. But Soderbergh works best with this type of material, and as mentioned before, Damon turns in a terrific performance. "The Informant!" is a smart film that requires the viewer to pay close attention to what is going on. Of course, this could limit its weekend sales potential. Films aimed at adults, however, tend to start small and hang on at the box office, providing they are any good. Witness the recent "Julie and Julia". It opened fairly well but has hung on week after week to nab a very impressive $90 million thus far. I'm not sure "The Informant!" will meet a similar fate, but if audiences like it, it could stick around for a while. Debuting in 2500 theaters, look for "The Informant!" to pull in roughly $12-15 million.

The fourth new film to open is the one that has had the least amount of buzz, which is a bit surprising given the fact that Jennifer Aniston headlines it. And it's a romantic comedy! I can understand why Universal hasn't advertised "Love Happens" more: it looks amazingly average. In fact, I think I had the entire film figured out within the span of the thirty seconds of footage I saw in one of the TV spots: the characters played by Aniston and Aaron Eckhart have had their hearts broken in one way or another. They meet, get close, attempt to overcome their own personal obstacles in order to end up happily ever after at the end. If anyone sees the film, see if I am right. Television isn't the only place that Universal has been keeping the film a secret: I couldn't find a single review for the film in advance until yesterday afternoon. Hell, even "Jennifer's Body" had SOME advance reviews (the film is currently at a woeful 14% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes). The date crowd may gravitate toward the film, but I can't see anyone else outside of that group plunking down $11 for a ticket. Watch for "Love Happens" to cuddle up to roughly $8 million from 1850 screens en route to the video shelves by the end of the year.

Check in on Sunday for the weekend box office totals. Next weekend, the remake of the 1980 film "Fame" and two sci-fi action flicks, the Bruce Willis entry "Surrogates" and the Dennis Quaid space flick "Pandorum" make their debuts.