'Shrek' opening weekend pulls in $121.6M

"Shrek the Third" was rolling in green with a $121.6 million weekend, smashing the franchise's own record for best animated opening ever and delivering the third-best debut of all time.

The animated comedy trails only the $151.1 million first weekend of "Spider-Man 3" this month and last summer's $135.6 million debut of "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest."

"Shrek the Third" hurtled past the $108 million debut of "Shrek 2," which had been the record-holder for biggest animated opening.

The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by Media By Numbers LLC are:

1. "Shrek the Third," DreamWorks Animation-Paramount, $121,629,270, 4,122 locations, $29,507 average, $122,536,609, one week.

2. "Spider-Man 3," Sony, $29,022,026, 4,324 locations, $6,712 average, $282,379,655, three weeks.

3. "28 Weeks Later," Fox Atomic, $5,454,168, 2,305 locations, $2,366 average, $18,914,924, two weeks.

4. "Georgia Rule," Universal, $3,745,880, 2,531 locations, $1,480 average, $12,867,455, two weeks.

5. "Disturbia," Paramount, $3,731,349, 2,547 locations, $1,465 average, $71,379,695, six weeks.

6. "Fracture," New Line, $2,278,362, 1,607 locations, $1,418 average, $34,530,840, five weeks.

7. "Delta Farce," Lionsgate, $1,852,193, 1,931 locations, $959 average, $6,138,105, two weeks.

8. "The Invisible," Disney, $1,300,769, 1,378 locations, $944 average, $17,654,557, four weeks.

9. "Hot Fuzz," Focus, $1,291,898, 973 locations, $1,328 average, $21,125,512, five weeks.

10. "Blades of Glory," Paramount, $1,091,982, 812 locations, $1,345 average, $115,446,583, eight weeks.

11. "Next," Paramount, $1,084,974, 1,008 locations, $1,076 average, $16,526,385, four weeks.

12. "Waitress," Fox Searchlight, $1,081,022, 116 locations, $9,319 average, $2,122,601, three weeks.

13. "The Ex," MGM, $703,963, 936 locations, $752 average, $2,648,801, two weeks.

14. "Away From Her," Lionsgate, $685,274, 174 locations, $3,938 average, $1,326,458, three weeks.

15. "Meet the Robinsons," Disney, $503,975, 941 locations, $536 average, $95,303,844, eight weeks.

16. "Vacancy," Sony Screen Gems, $461,563, 449 locations, $1,028 average, $18,648,323, five weeks.

17. "Wild Hogs," Disney, $422,278, 512 locations, $825 average, $161,663,260, 12 weeks.

18. "Are We Done Yet?", Sony, $371,578, 530 locations, $701 average, $47,883,193, seven weeks.

19. "Black Book," Sony Pictures Classics, $353,136, 193 locations, $1,830 average, $2,789,696, seven weeks.

20. "The Namesake," Fox Searchlight, $333,121, 253 locations, $1,317 average, $12,556,868, 11 weeks.

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Universal Pictures and Focus Features are owned by NBC Universal, a joint venture of General Electric Co. and Vivendi Universal; Sony Pictures, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; DreamWorks, Paramount and Paramount Classics are divisions of Viacom Inc.; Disney's parent is The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is a division of The Walt Disney Co.; 20th Century Fox, Fox Searchlight Pictures and Fox Atomic are owned by News Corp.; Warner Bros., New Line, Warner Independent and Picturehouse are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a consortium of Providence Equity Partners, Texas Pacific Group, Sony Corp., Comcast Corp., DLJ Merchant Banking Partners and Quadrangle Group; Lionsgate is owned by Lionsgate Entertainment Corp.; IFC Films is owned by Rainbow Media Holdings, a subsidiary of Cablevision Systems Corp.