"Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" opened this past weekend with a strong $30.1 million. Sony Pictures Animation's first film - "Open Season" (2006) opened at $23M and "Surf's Up" made $18M in it's first weekend a year later. "Open Season" went on to make a total of $85M, while "Surf's Up" only earned $58M. "Cloudy" should top them both.

Let's take a look at how animated films have fared so far in the U.S. this year and compare them to the last two years:

2009: "Up" ($291.5M), "Monsters vs. Aliens ($198.4), "Ice Age 3" ($195), "Coraline" ($75.3), "Cloudy..." ($30.1), "9" ($22.8) and "Ponyo" ($14.6) have combined to make $827.7M.

2008 (which included "WALL-E" and "Kung Fu Panda"): $1.004Billion

2007 (which included "Shrek the Third" and "Ratatouille"): $1.131Billion

So, 2009 has some catching up to do. But with "Cloudy..." and the animated films still to some this year, including "Fantastic Mr. Fox" and "The Princess and the Frog", this should be another Billion Dollar Year.

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