Oscar 2010: Animated Feature Semi-Finalists

Up by Pete Docter (top); A Town Called Panic by Stéphane Aubier and Vincent Patar (middle); Fantastic Mr. Fox by Wes Anderson (bottom)

Twenty features have been submitted for consideration in the Animated Feature Film category for the 2010 Academy Awards. They are:

Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel
Astro Boy
Battle for Terra
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
Coraline
Disney’s A Christmas Carol
The Dolphin – Story of a Dreamer
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
Mary and Max
The Missing Lynx
Monsters vs. [...]

COUPLES RETREAT Tops Box Office

Universal’s comedy Couples Retreat safely landed at the top of the North American box office this weekend with a solid $35.3 million in ticket sales at 3,000 locations, according to studio estimates Sunday.
Starring Vince Vaughn, Jon Favreau, Kristin Davis, Kristen Bell and Jason Bateman, the film follows four couples traveling to a prestigious tropical island resort where they’re forced to partake in numerous couple therapy sessions.

Also breaking into the top 10 this weekend was Oren Peli’s Paranormal Activity, which expanded to 159 locations and took the No. 5 spot with a superb $7 million. The film’s early total gross currently stands at $8.2 million.

Last week’s winner Zombieland, starring Jesse Eisenberg [...]

Oscar 2010: Early Predictions – Best Animated Feature

Best Animated Feature

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Phil Lord and Chris Miller
As a scientist tries to solve world hunger, it starts raining food.

Coraline, Henry Selick
A young girl discovers a new world featuring an idealized version of her dysfunctional family life — and some spooky little secrets as well.

Fantastic Mr. Fox, Wes Anderson
Farmers band together to get rid of Mr. Fox (voiced by George Clooney) and his family (Meryl Streep is the Missus).

Ponyo, Hayao Miyazaki
A five-year-old boy and a goldfish princess develop a close bond.

Up, Pete Docter
A man in his late 70s takes his house and a young stowaway to the South American jungle.

In case there are 16 or more animated features being considered for the 2010 Academy [...]

ZOMBIELAND Rules Box Office

Ruben Fleischer’s excellent horror comedy Zombieland stormed the North American box office, slashing its competition this weekend with a solid $25 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.
The film scored a surprising average of $8,235 per theater at 3,036 locations. Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin, Zombieland follows four humans trying to survive in a world taken over by zombies.

At a distant No. 2, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs bagged another $16.7 million, lifting its domestic gross to an impressive $82.3 million after a three-week run. The Sony Pictures Animation release is playing in both 3D and standard format.

Debuting in third place [...]

SURROGATES Passable, PANDORUM Flops

Sony Pictures Animation’s Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs topped the North American box office for the second consecutive weekend with a solid $24.6 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.
Scoring an average of $7,887 per theater at 3,119 locations, the animated adventure brought its domestic total to $60 million after a little more than one week in release. The film is playing in both 3D and standard format.

At No. 2, Jonathan Mostow’s Surrogates debuted with $15 million, with an average of $5,083 per theater at 2,951 locations. In the film, Bruce Willis plays a cop investigating a murder in a world in which humans use "surrogates" to complete [...]

CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS Tops Box Office

Sony Pictures Animation’s Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs stormed the North American box office this weekend with a solid $30.1 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.
Playing in both 3D and standard format, Phil Lord and Chris Miller’s animated adventure scored an average of $9,651 per theater at 3,119 locations. The film follows an inventor who faces the consequences of his latest invention: a device that converts water into food.

Debuting in second place with a decent three-day gross of $10.5 million was Steven Soderbergh’s The Informant!, which stars Matt Damon as an exec helping the FBI uncover his company’s price-fixing scheme. The film is showing [...]