Animated prehistoric adventure The Croods, about a family of cave dwellers fighting for survival, claimed the top spot on movie box-office charts with $44.7 million from weekend ticket sales in the US and Canada.

The 3D children's comedy from Shrek and Madagascar creator Dreamworks Animation added $63.3 million from international markets, the studio said on Sunday, for a global total of $108 million.

Croods dethroned two-time box-office champ Oz the Great and Powerful, which slipped to third place on domestic charts. The Walt Disney Co prequel to The Wizard of Oz (1939) earned $22 million during its third weekend, according to estimates.

In between the two family films, thriller Olympus Has Fallen, about a White House under terrorist attack, took in $30.5 million at North American theaters.

The performance of Croods provided a solid opening for Dreamworks, which needs a hit after the disappointment from November's Rise of the Guardians.

Croods tells the story of a Stone Age family that is uprooted after its cave is destroyed and forced to search for a new home. Nicolas Cage provides the voice of an overprotective father, while Emma Stone voices his rebellious daughter. The movie cost $135 million to make, plus tens of millions more for marketing.

Ahead of the weekend, Wall Street analysts said Croods needed a domestic opening around $40 million to ease investor concerns following the weak results from Guardians.

The poor performance of the holiday-themed Guardians forced Dreamworks to write down $87 million and contributed to 350 layoffs taking place this year, the company said in February.

Dreamworks Animation Chief Operating Officer Ann Daly said she expects the film to do "phenomenally well" over the next few weeks, pointing to its A CinemaScore rating and the fact that many US children will be off from school and more likely to head to the movies.

"This time period is a big opportunity for us," Daly said, citing How to Train Your Dragon as a past example of a family film that benefited from a release during a similar time frame.

In the coming weeks, Croods will have the family audience largely to itself as Oz plays out. Starring James Franco as a small-time magician who becomes the leader of the magical land, Oz brought its global total to $356.4 million through Sunday.

Olympus Has Fallen beat pre-weekend forecasts for a $20 million opening, and broke this year's streak of underperforming R-rated action films. The movie stars Gerard Butler as a disgraced former Secret Service agent who works to save a kidnapped president, played by Aaron Eckhart.

Reuters