Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

Welcome back from your holiday hibernation! If you still feel like being a couch potato, settle in and prolong that vacation with these new movie releases. Or if you're in the mood for a marathon, catch up on your TV (and prep for the upcoming episodes) with Big Love: Season 3 or Chuck: Season 2, which also hit shelves today.

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

After a strong showing at the box office and solid reviews, I'm curious to check out Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs — even if it's not the most grown-up of movies. The film follows Flint (Bill Hader), an inventor whose creations get him into trouble. His latest is a contraption that changes water into food, and Flint accidentally launches it into the sky, causing hamburgers and the like to rain down. Seems like a cute, kooky pick if I want something light. Plus, Anna Faris voices one of the characters.

Special features include a Director's Commentary with Hader, but if you get the Blu-Ray/DVD combo, you can use the "Splat" button to simulate throwing food at the screen, which sounds fun if you're a kid (or not a kid).

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The Final Destination

It's the fourth installment in the horror franchise, so you know the premise by now: a teen sees a deadly vision and tries to protect those around him, but death still comes calling in a series of over-the-top gruesome setups. It may be campy, but The Final Destination did well in theaters, probably thanks to its new 3-D effects. The DVD version includes special 3-D glasses, so you can watch it in all its gory glory home. I doubt it'll capture the magnitude you get on the big screen, but it's kind of an entertaining novelty, none the less.

Special features include deleted scenes.

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The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences issued a press release today, announcing that 20 films have been submitted for Best Animated Film consideration at this year's Oscars. This means there could be five movies competing at the awards show in March. (In the history of the category, there have typically been only three.) So who is up for the honor?

Some are obvious choices. Up, for example, comes as no surprise thanks to its huge accolades. I also think Coraline stands a chance, as well as Fantastic Mr. Fox (look for my review on Friday!). But Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel seems like a long shot — even though it hasn't hit theaters yet, so I'm just making an early prediction. (Sorry, Alvin.)

With 10 movies in the Best Picture category, I wouldn't be surprised if some of these films end up with more than one nomination. Check out the full list of animated film contenders, and tell me which you think is most deserving of an Oscar when you read more

Well, the numbers speak for themselves — people love a Vince Vaughn movie. I was admittedly lukewarm about Couples Retreat, but that didn't stop it from cashing in at the box office. The ensemble comedy took in $35.3 million, making it the first big hit for Universal after a lackluster Summer. Last week's winner Zombieland dropped to No. 2 with $15 million, at No. 3 was Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs with $12 million, and the double feature of Toy Story and Toy Story 2 in 3D followed behind with $7.6 million.

Rounding out the top five was the real champion of the weekend, Paranormal Activity. I had heard the indie was one of the most terrifying flicks in a long time, and now it's broken records by taking in over $7 million in ticket sales — even though it played in less than 200 theaters and only cost a reported $15,000 to make. Paramount expanded the release of this little-engine-that-could after an onslaught of online demands from fans. (Perhaps it deserves a spot on my scary movie bracket, too!)

Photos courtesy of Universal Pictures

Well, it looks like Très isn't the only one who loves a good horror comedy — Zombieland took the top spot at the box office this weekend with $25 million in ticket sales. Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs slid to No. 2 with $16.7 million, followed by the Toy Story 1 &2 3-D double feature with $12.5 million.

The Invention of Lying made its box office debut in fourth place with $7.35 million, and Surrogates rounded out the top five with $7.4 million. Drew Barrymore's Whip It couldn't hack it in its opening weekend and finished in seventh with $4.8 million, right behind Michael Moore's Capitalism: A Love Story.

Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures

Dancing and Bruce Willis weren't enough to knock kid flick Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs out of this weekend's top spot at the box office. Sony's 3D Meatballs held its place for the second weekend in a row, making $24.6 million, followed by Willis's sci-fi movie Surrogates ($15 million) and Fame ($10 million), which both just opened Friday.

The Informant! came in fourth this week with $6.9 million, and Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All by Myself rounded out the top five with $4.7 million in its third week in theaters. Unfortunately, Cam Gigandet's Pandorum didn't break the top five with its debut; the space-set action movie only made $4.4 million.

Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures

This weekend's new movies were full of A-list talent but Sony's cute animated characters topped them all. Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs made $30.1 million at the box office. The children's book adaptation in 3D had a huge lead over The Informant!, which earned $10.5 million. Last week's champ, Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All By Myself, followed next at No. 3.

Unfortunately, the other new offerings of the weekend had disappointing debuts. Most of you said you were excited about Jennifer Aniston's Love Happens, but at $8.4 million the movie only made enough to garner fourth place. Jennifer's Body finished out the top five with $6.8 million.

Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures

This Friday, I'm pretty sure I know what I'll be having for dinner: spaghetti with meatballs. That's because I plan on catching a new movie, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, on its opening night, which I can already tell will make my mouth water.

Loosely based on the classic children's book by Judi and Ron Barrett, Cloudy is an animated film produced by Sony Pictures Animation. The premise: A scientist hopes to solve world hunger when he discovers a way to convert water into food, but when he unleashes his invention on the world, it turns into an epic (albeit delicious) disaster.

I can't wait to get a helping of the computer animated adventure, which features the voices of comedians Andy Samberg and Anna Faris. I suspect the movie will only be more hunger-inducing in its 3-D, IMAX version. Will you be watching? Check out the preview trailer after the jump.