‘Mr. Peabody & Sherman’ takes weekend box office

LOS ANGELES (AP) - The animated, time-traveling adventures of a dog and his son beat out action heavy tales at the weekend box office.

After opening in second place last weekend, DreamWorks’ “Mr. Peabody & Sherman” came out on top over the St. Patrick’s Day holiday with $21.8 million.

The ranking marked an upset, as Disney’s street racing thriller “Need for Speed,” starring Aaron Paul, had been predicted to take the No. 1 position.

Instead, it only managed third place with $17.8 million, while “300: Rise of an Empire” dropped to the No. 2 slot after opening in first place the previous weekend.

Warner Bros.’ 3-D sequel to the 2007 warrior jaunt “300,” gained $19.2 million, bringing its total to $78 million. It took the first film only one weekend to reach $70.9 million.

The Universal Pictures airliner thriller “Non-Stop” continued to drop after opening at No. 1 three weeks ago. Last weekend it landed in the No. 3 slot and this week it dropped again to No. 4.

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The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Monday, 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 Rentrak, are:

1. “Mr. Peabody & Sherman,” 20th Century Fox, $21,809,249, 3,951 locations, $5,520 average, $63,789,165, 2 weeks.

2. “300: Rise of an Empire,” Warner Bros., $19,201,345, 3,490 locations, $5,502 average, $78,406,898, 2 weeks.

3. “Need for Speed,” Disney, $17,844,939, 3,115 locations, $5,729 average, $17,844,939, 1 week.

4. “Non-Stop,” Universal, $10,615,305, 3,183 locations, $3,335 average, $68,805,115, 3 weeks.

5. “The Single Moms Club,” Lionsgate, $8,075,111, 1,896 locations, $4,259 average, $8,075,111, 1 week.

6. “The Lego Movie,” Warner Bros., $7,701,309, 3,040 locations, $2,533 average, $236,928,237, 6 weeks.

7. “Son of God,” 20th Century Fox, $5,528,497, 2,990 locations, $1,849 average, $51,003,205, 3 weeks.

8. “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” Fox Searchlight, $3,638,041, 66 locations, $55,122 average, $4,776,981, 2 weeks.

9. “Frozen,” Disney, $2,147,743, 1,466 locations, $1,465 average, $396,386,593, 17 weeks.

10. “The Monuments Men,” Sony, $2,062,783, 1,594 locations, $1,294 average, $73,881,475, 6 weeks.

11. “Veronica Mars,” Warner Bros., $1,988,351, 291 locations, $6,833 average, $1,988,351, 1 week.

12. “3 Days to Kill,” Relativity Media, $1,730,343, 1,566 locations, $1,105 average, $28,462,711, 4 weeks.

13. “Ride Along,” Universal, $1,377,295, 1,024 locations, $1,345 average, $132,098,760, 9 weeks.

14. “12 Years a Slave,” Fox Searchlight, $1,222,892, 925 locations, $1,322 average, $55,090,884, 22 weeks.

15. “RoboCop,” Sony, $854,351, 965 locations, $885 average, $56,524,882, 5 weeks.

16. “About Last Night,” Sony, $670,063, 624 locations, $1,074 average, $47,815,963, 5 weeks.

17. “American Hustle,” Sony, $608,422, 503 locations, $1,210 average, $149,351,703, 14 weeks.

18. “Pompeii,” Sony, $588,026, 671 locations, $876 average, $22,416,035, 4 weeks.

19. “Gravity,” Warner Bros., $547,289, 320 locations, $1,710 average, $272,672,181, 24 weeks.

20. “The Nut Job,” Open Road, $482,320, 405 locations, $1,191 average, $62,090,875, 9 weeks.

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Universal and Focus are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp.; Sony, Columbia, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney, Pixar and Marvel are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is owned by Filmyard Holdings LLC; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are owned by 21st Century Fox; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a group of former creditors including Highland Capital, Anchorage Advisors and Carl Icahn; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC is owned by AMC Networks Inc.; Rogue is owned by Relativity Media LLC.