Actor Ray Winstone portrays Beowulf, a six-foot-six strapping blonde Viking, in a scene from the new film 'Beowulf'.
LOS ANGELES - Old English poems never seemed so interesting as Beowulf, a battlefield epic based on a medieval text, slaughtered its rivals at the weekend box office in North America, according to studio estimates.
Director Robert Zemeckis' effects-heavy adaptation of the poem, which has long bedevilled school
children, sold about US$28.1 ($37.60) million worth of tickets during its first three days, said domestic distributor Paramount Pictures.
Jerry Seinfeld's animated Bee Movie slipped to No 2 with US$14.3 million, while the crime saga American Gangster was down one to No 3 with US$13.2 million. Both movies were in their third weekends.
Beowulf, a US$150 million film starring British actor Ray Winstone as a dashing warrior around the 6th century A.D., is a hybrid of animation and live action. About 20 per cent of the prints were screened in theatres equipped with 3-D technology, and those locations accounted for just more than 40 per cent of sales, Paramount said.
The Viacom Inc unit also distributed Bee Movie, a DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc production, which has earned US$93.9 million to date.
The Denzel Washington-Russell Crowe drama American Gangster, released by General Electric Co's Universal Pictures, has grossed US$101 million in the same period.
The holiday comedy Fred Claus (Warner Bros.), starring Vince Vaughn as Santa's older brother, slipped one place to No 4 with US$12 million in its second weekend, for a total of US$35.8 million. The fantasy drama Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium (20th Century Fox), starring Dustin Hoffman as a toy impresario, opened at No 5 with US$10 million.
- REUTERS
