As expected, Sony Pictures Animation’s “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2” took the top spot this weekend with a little more than $34 million. Playing in 4,001 theaters, the sequel grossed more than its predecessor, which opened to slightly more than $30 million four years ago.

While the opening fell short of expectations, it is an improvement from the first film, something that cannot be said for the likes of “Kung Fu Panda 2,” and more recently, “The Smurfs 2.” With a budget of $78 million, “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2” is guaranteed to make profits, especially since the first film collected $243 million worldwide on a budget of $100 million.

In the past four years, the marketplace has expanded, especially in terms of 3D films. So, this film should do better than its predecessor overseas as well. Since this is the only animated film choice for family audiences until the Nov. 1 release of Relativity Media’s “Free Birds,” “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2” will have the legs to carry it to substantial profitability in the coming month.

While it opened last weekend in thirty-eighth place with about $187,000, “Rush” took third place this weekend with more than $10 million after it expanded nationwide from five theaters to more than 2,000 theaters. While it is not a terrific opening for the $38 million flick, Formula One racing in the 1970s can be a tough sell. Despite terrific reviews from critics and audiences alike, the future for “Rush” does not look great, given the tough competition it faces in the coming weeks from “Gravity” and “Captain Phillips,” to name a few.

“Baggage Claim,” the new romantic comedy from Fox Searchlight, opened in fourth place with about $9 million. The debut may not seem substantial, but smaller films do not need huge opening weekends to thrive. “Baggage Claim” had an inexpensive marketing campaign that targeted a specific audience: African American women. Not to mention, the film has already recouped its $8.5 million budget in three days, signaling that it should easily see profit from theatrical release alone.

The final new release in this week’s top 10 came from Relativity Media’s “Don Jon,” which opened in fifth place with $8.7 million. The film is Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s directorial debut, and stars himself, Scarlett Johansson, Julianne Moore and Tony Danza.

While it has already surpassed its $6 million budget, it will be interesting to see how the film does in the coming weeks. Though the film is a romantic comedy about a guy with a porn addiction, television spots focused more on the romantic comedy side of the film.