Pixar has so long been the benchmark for quality re: computer generated animation, that when people come close it’s easy to laud. Especially after all those terrible DreamWorks films. Kung Fu Panda was an obvious step up for DreamWorks Animation, and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs suggests that Pixar doesn’t have own the CGI playground. Bill Hader stars as Flint Lockwood, an inventor who creates a machine that turns the town’s weather into food. Anna Farris plays Sam Sparks, the newscaster who becomes his love interest. My review of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs on the Blu-ray after the jump.

With a Golden Globe nomination in their pocket for Best Animated Film, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller are currently in negotiations to make their live-action feature debut with an adaptation of the 1980s TV show 21 Jump Street.  As Heat Vision describes the show in their report, “The show followed young-looking cops working undercover in high school.”  Jonah Hill is starring and executive producing with Scott Pilgrim vs. the World co-writer Michael Bacall handling the script.

Lord and Miller also wrote Cloudy, which grossed $122.6 million domestically and earned most positive reviews.  The pair’s credits also include writing for How I Met Your Mother and creating the animated cult comedy show Clone High for MTV.

This is why Vince Vaughn is known as box office gold.  A typical Vaughn comedy has a reasonable price tag and reaps big returns… if not always big laughs.  The actor made the new bosses over at Universal very happy on Friday as “Couples Retreat” opened to over $12.3 million from 3,000 screens.  It didn’t hurt that the PG-13 comedy was the only wide release of the week, of course.  Meanwhile, Sony is still feeling the love with “Zombieland” at number two and their 3D toon-that-could, “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs”, losing little monetary momentum at number three.  But the real momentum this week belongs to Paramount.  The studio’s indie horror pick-up “Paranormal Activity” moved from midnight-only screenings in a handful of cities to 159 venues (at all hours) on Friday.  With marketing being handled mainly by fans and social networkers, the studio can just sit back and count the cash as it rolls in.  Already the $11,000 pic has earned $3.7 million total.  Check back tomorrow to see exactly how much word-of-mouth will be worth this time.

“Zombieland” is already a financial hit for Sony.  After opening up a big lead on Friday, Ruben Fleischer’s $24 million directorial debut continued to dominate a crowded weekend session, closing Sunday with an estimated $25 million from 3,036 engagements.  And because, lately, the box office has room for only one hit per weekend, new releases like Drew Barrymore’s “Whip It” suffered by comparison.

October is off to a strong start for at least one studio. Sony saw “Zombieland” take number one on Friday with a $9.4 million debut in 3,036 theatres. The horror/comedy hybrid knocked another Sony release, “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs”, into second place after two weeks at number one. In other 3D news, the debut of Pixar’s “Toy Story 1 & 2″ was not far behind “Meatballs” with $3.2 million. Disney’s double bill should take a bite out of Sony’s weekend-matinee monopoly but, playing in only 1,745 locations, it may be hard for the retooled toys to catch up.  Sony was not the only studio that had something to smile about on Friday. Warner Brothers’ new comedy “The Invention of Lying” surprised even the studio by coming in fourth with a $2.5 million debut in 1,707 theatres.  Fox Searchlight’s “Whip It”, playing in the same number of venues, was also a surprise.  The Drew Barrymore/Ellen Page vehicle fell short of the top five despite those ‘sneak peaks’ the studio hosted last Saturday.  Check back tomorrow for full weekend box office results.

Despite mounting an early and aggressive advertising campaign for their high-concept sci-fi thriller “Surrogates”, Disney could not catch up to Sony’s holdover hit “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” in time to claim the number one spot on the charts.  After opening up a small lead on Friday, the 3D animated toon finished with another $24 million on its second weekend, making it easily the most-successful release of the month at $60 million in total.  September had more bad news for its new releases as both MGM’s reboot of “Fame” and Overture’s sci-fi horror flick “Pandorum” struggled to find their footing.  Ha! Get it?  The dancers of “Fame” couldn’t find their footing!  More witty bon mots after the jump.

Audiences haven’t tired of the 3D toon “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” quite yet. Sony Animation’s demographically-appealing feature film brought in another $5.2 million on its eighth day out: a decline of only 31% from its number one debut last Friday.  This means that a second weekend at the top of the box office is now likely.  The film that was supposed to take over that number one spot, Disney’s sci-fi thriller “Surrogates”, was not far behind “Meatballs” with an estimated $5 million from its 2,951 dates.   But if Bruce Willis was going to stage a coup he would have had to make his move before the more kid-centric Saturday session.  Meanwhile, more bad news for MGM as their first feature release of 2009, “Fame”, registered a debut of only $3.5 million from its 3,096 engagements.  Check back tomorrow to see how fall’s first weekend at the movies plays out.

Despite Hollywood’s September slowdown, studios are still sending plenty of movies into theatres.  Few of this year’s fall freshmen are connecting with audiences, however.  Like Tyler Perry’s “I Can Do Bad All By Myself” one week ago, this weekend’s box office had room for only one hit out of four attempts – Sony Animation’s “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs”.  The CGI adaptation of the popular children’s book brought in an estimated $30 million in its first three days for over $9,000 per screen.  When measured against competing titles like “Jennifer’s Body” and “Love Happens” that’s damn near a landslide of cash.

Of this weekend’s four new films, there wasn’t much doubt about who was going to claim the top spot on Friday.  In the wake of the R-rated revolution of August, Sony’s family-friendly “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” had a good shot at a great opening weekend even without the added attraction of the toon’s 3D format.  The studio was hoping for a weekend total around $20 million but, after adjusting their expectations as Friday’s numbers rolled in, it looks like the final 3-day tally will be closer to $30 million.  20^th Century Fox also had to adjust their expectations after Friday’s debut of “Jennifer’s Body”.  The long-awaited Megan Fox/Diablo Cody horror-hybrid debuted with a truly dismal $2.8 million… not quite the second place finish that many predicted.  Second went instead to Steven Soderbergh’s “The Informant!”, though at only $3.6 million no one at Warner Brothers is doing back-flips.  And the news wasn’t much better for Jennifer Aniston and Aaron Eckhart in “Love Happens”.  To watch Hollywood’s A-listers suffocate further under Sony’s falling food, check back tomorrow.

Comic-Con is on like Donkey Kong. After waiting in a massive line full of “Twilight” fans in Burger King hats, and then sitting in Hall-H for an extra hour, things are finally getting started.

Read on for minute-by-minute coverage of Hall-H’s 3D presentations including “A Christmas Carol”, “Alice in Wonderland”, “Tron Legacy”, “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs”, “The Hole”, and “The Final Destination”.  Also, please forgive any typos or grammar mistakes as I wrote this train-of-thought and trying to keep pace with the action on stage.  Finally, if you want to read Matt’s thoughts on the Disney 3D Presentation, click here.

And on with the 3D after the jump…