A poster of "Shrek the Third" (XinhuaPhoto)

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LOS ANGELES, May 20 (Xinhua) -- DreamWorks Animation's computer-generated movie "Shrek the Third" debuted at the number-one spot at the U.S. box office this weekend, raking in some 122 million U.S. dollars over the three-day period and setting a new opening record for an animated film.

According to preliminary figures released Sunday, the latest adventure of the green ogre broke the previous record of 108 million dollars taken by "Shrek 2" in its first weekend on release three years ago. "Shrek 2" has been the highest-grossing animated film of all time with 436.7 million dollars in total ticket sales in North America.

Meanwhile, the latest Shrek film also posted the third-biggest opening weekend of all time, following Sony's "Spider-Man 3" and Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest," which respectively took 151.1 million and 135.6 million dollars at the box office in their first weekends, said the Los Angeles-based box office tracker Media by Numbers.

After "Spider-Man 3," released just three weekends ago, "Shrek the Third" was the second movie this month to take at least 100 million dollars, while the third such movie will hit theaters later this week when "Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World's End" debuts.

Industry observers said Hollywood was presenting the biggest summer season in its history as the box office has never seen three 100-million-dollar-plus openers in the same summer, let alone in the same month.

"Spider-Man 3," after ruling the box office for two weeks, slipped to second place at box office with 28.5 million dollars over the weekend. It has grossed 281.9 million dollars in North America and 747 million dollars worldwide since its release earlier this month.

Fox Atomic's sci-fi horror sequel "28 Weeks Later" slipped one spot to third place with an estimated 5.2 million dollars, while Paramount thriller "Disturbia" and Universal's family comedy "Georgia Rule" remained in fourth and fifth place respectively with takings of 3.7 million and 3.5 million dollars. Final box office figures will be released Monday.

The dozen highest-grossing films in North America this weekend raked in a total of 172.9 million dollars, a 12-percent increase over the same weekend a year ago, when "The Da Vinci Code" opened.