FEWER MEATBALLS THAN FORECAST RAIN ON BOX OFFICE

Several analysts had predicted that Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 would set a September box-office record with an opening that exceeded last year’s Hotel Transylvania, which raked in $42.5 million. That’s not the way things turned out. Sony’s animated 3D family film did earn $34 million, which was more than the $30.3 million that the original took in over its opening weekend in 2009, but it could not have given much of a lift to Sony film executives who have presided over the studio’s worst year since 2005. Two other new films had mediocre debuts. Fox Searchlight’s Baggage Claim brought in just $9 million, slightly ahead of Relativity Media’s Don Jon, with $8.7 million. Expanding into wide release, Universal’s Rush raced away with $10 million. Overall, the box office was down 6 percent from the same weekend a year ago.