LOS ANGELES, Oct 4 (AFP) - The animated movie "Shark Tale" week swam circles around the competition over the weekend in North America, but failed to set a record for the best October opening ever as movie studio DreamWorks had hoped, final figures showed Monday.
The movie, about a vegetarian shark and his undersea friends, grossed 47.6 million dollars over the weekend, according to box office-trackers Exhibitor Relations.
That means the record is still held by the 48.1 million dollars the comedy "Scary Movie 3" generated in its October 2003 debut.
The movie however did become the fifth best animated opening of all time, behind mid-year's "Shrek 2," last year's "Finding Nemo," "Monsters, Inc." and "Toy Story 2."
In second place was "Ladder 49," a John Travolta fire rescue film heavy on heroism that grossed 22 million dollars in its debut.
It was followed by "The Forgotten," a thriller starring Julianne Moore as a grieving mother who fears she is losing her sanity, which grossed 11.8 million dollars.
Fourth was the retro-futuristic "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" starring Jude Law, Gwenneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie, which grossed 3.2 million dollars.
Baseball comedy "Mr. 3000," starring Bernie Mac as a retired star who returns to the game after his career legend is damaged, pulled in 2.5 million dollars.
Rounding off the bottom five was the British zombie comedy "Shaun of the Dead" (2.4 million dollars), the death row drama "Woman Thou Art Loosed" (2.32 million dollars), the video game-inspired "Resident Evil: Apocalypse" (2.31 million dollars), the romantic comedy "First Daughter" (2.1 million dollars) and the thriller "Cellular" (2 million dollars).
The weekend's top 12 films grossed an estimated 101.7 million dollars for the weekend, far ahead of the same weekend last year when the top 12 took in a combined 80.5 million dollars.