LOS ANGELES, May 20 (Xinhua) -- DreamWorks Animation's
computer-generated movie "Shrek the Third" debuted at the number-one spot at the
U.S. box office this weekend, raking in some 122 million U.S. dollars over the
three-day period and setting a new opening record for an animated film.
According to preliminary figures released Sunday, the
latest adventure of the green ogre broke the previous record of 108 million
dollars taken by "Shrek 2" in its first weekend on release three years ago.
"Shrek 2" has been the highest-grossing animated film of all time with 436.7
million dollars in total ticket sales in North America.
Meanwhile, the latest Shrek film also posted the
third-biggest opening weekend of all time, following Sony's "Spider-Man 3" and
Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest," which respectively took
151.1 million and 135.6 million dollars at the box office in their first
weekends, said the Los Angeles-based box office tracker Media by Numbers.
After "Spider-Man 3," released just three weekends
ago, "Shrek the Third" was the second movie this month to take at least 100
million dollars, while the third such movie will hit theaters later this week
when "Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World's End" debuts.
Industry observers said Hollywood was presenting the
biggest summer season in its history as the box office has never seen three
100-million-dollar-plus openers in the same summer, let alone in the same month.
"Spider-Man 3," after ruling the box office for two
weeks, slipped to second place at box office with 28.5 million dollars over the
weekend. It has grossed 281.9 million dollars in North America and 747 million
dollars worldwide since its release earlier this month.
Fox Atomic's sci-fi horror sequel "28 Weeks Later"
slipped one spot to third place with an estimated 5.2 million dollars, while
Paramount thriller "Disturbia" and Universal's family comedy "Georgia Rule"
remained in fourth and fifth place respectively with takings of 3.7 million and
3.5 million dollars. Final box office figures will be released Monday.
The dozen highest-grossing films in North America
this weekend raked in a total of 172.9 million dollars, a 12-percent increase
over the same weekend a year ago, when "The Da Vinci Code" opened.
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