The Weather Channel Cooks Up Unique Promotion for Sony Pictures Animation Film "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs"

ATLANTA - The Weather Channel® has teamed up with Sony Pictures Animation to promote Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, a film presented in theaters nationwide in 2-D and 3-D beginning Sept. 18. The partnership will include custom offerings created by The Weather Channel (TWC) for cross-platform distribution, including lead-ins of “Local on the 8s” by the film’s talent and specialized food-centric forecast segments for TWC air and unique online advertising creative for the weather.com® site.

While no stranger to weather patterns and incidents, The Weather Channel did enter new territory covering phenomena such as ice cream snow, a spaghetti tornado and an avalanche of leftovers. The partnership offered a chance for The Weather Channel to have fun with weather while displaying the range of opportunities TWC can create for advertisers.

Customizations include the following:

* Four 30-second, on-air segments feature on-camera meteorologist Adam Berg presenting Chewandswallow forecasts, the town featured in Cloudy, and will air on TWC beginning Sept. 14 through the Friday, Sept. 18, movie premiere.
* A custom 15-second spot with Berg forecasting different food systems will air on NBC Prime.
* Out-of-banner advertisements on the weather.com site will be weather triggered during rainy forecasts to show meatballs falling on the local forecast pages four days leading up to the premiere.
* Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs will have exclusive ownership of the weather.com homepage Sept. 17 with a 970x418 window shade unit and a 300x600 ad unit that features an embedded movie trailer.
* Cast members from the movie will introduce segments of “Local on the 8s.”

“This unique promotion for a cool film centered around weather is a natural extension for The Weather Channel, and it allows us to have fun, integrate talent and be creative while working with Sony Pictures Animation,” said Eric Gronemeyer, vice president and western region manager for The Weather Channel in Los Angeles.

Opening September 18, 2009, Columbia Pictures’ and Sony Pictures Animation’s Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs will be the most delicious event since macaroni met cheese. Inspired by the beloved children’s book, the film focuses on a town where food falls from the sky like rain. Bill Hader, star of “Saturday Night Live” and Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, will voice Flint Lockwood, a young inventor who dreams of creating something that will improve everyone’s life. Anna Faris, who recently turned heads as the star of the comedy hit The House Bunny, takes on the role of Sam Sparks, a weathergirl covering the phenomenon who hides her intelligence behind a perky exterior.

James Caan plays Tim Lockwood, Flint’s technophobic father. Andy Samberg plays Brent, the town bully who has plagued Flint since childhood. Bruce Campbell plays Mayor Shelbourne, who figures out that Flint’s invention can put the town, and more importantly himself, on the map and Mr. T plays the by-the-rules town cop Earl Devereaux. Al Roker, host of the new weekday morning show Wake Up with Al on The Weather Channel from 6-7 a.m. ET (and 7-8 a.m. PT), plays Patrick Patrickson.

For more on the film, please visit http://www.cloudywithachanceofmeatballs.com/. To view TWC customizations, be sure to watch The Weather Channel or visit http://www.weather.com/.

About The Weather Channel Companies
The Weather Channel Companies (TWCC) is made up of The Weather Channel Network (TWCN), The Weather Channel Interactive (TWCi), and Weather Services International (WSI). The Weather Channel® is based in Atlanta and is seen in more than 98 million U.S. households. TWCN also operates Weatherscan, a 24-hour all-local weather network; The Weather Channel Radio Network; and The Weather Channel HD. TWCi, which includes the weather.com® site, The Weather Channel Desktop and The Weather Channel Mobile, reaches more than 40 million unique users online each month and is the most popular source of online weather, news and information according to Nielsen//NetRatings. WSI, headquartered in Andover, MA, primarily provides business-to-business weather services, particularly for the media, aviation, marine and energy sectors. TWCC is owned by a consortium made up of NBC Universal and the private equity firms The Blackstone Group and Bain Capital. For more information, visit www.weather.com/press.