'Shrek Forever After' tops box office with $71.3M

"Shrek Forever After," bellowed his way to the top of the box office, making $ 71,300,000 in its first weekend.

But the fourth film in the franchise monster debut DreamWorks Animation had the weakest of all "Shrek" sequels, according to studio estimates Sunday. "Shrek 2" from 2004, opened with $ 108 million. "Shrek the Third, from 2007, made $ 121,600,000 in its first weekend.

And the last delivery was available for the first time in 3-D and IMAX 3-D, which are higher ticket prices - up to $ 19 in Manhattan. "Shrek" made just under $ 5 million on IMAX screens, or 7 percent of weekend movie gross.

This time, Shrek - expressed as always by Mike Myers - is experiencing a midlife crisis, so it makes a deal with Rumpelstiltskin to live as a fearsome ogre again for a day. Cameron Diaz, Eddie Murphy and Antonio Banderas return to the voice cast.

"We are obviously delighted to be the No. 1 movie, we had anticipated," said Anne Globe, head of worldwide marketing for DreamWorks Animation.

"It's a little lower than we expected but it's still No. 4 among all the animated openings of all time, behind the first two sequels of Shrek and The Simpsons (the movie) '," which opened with $ 74 million in 2007.

To explain the comparatively smaller debut for "Shrek Forever After," the Globe: "Part of it is a very high standard has set the franchise Shrek himself. With the fourth movie, we're in kind of uncharted territory - has never been room (one animated) series - and not in the beginning, is where it ends.