Weekend box office

It’s still the best opening this year and the biggest-ever for the month of March, but with $68 million “Ice Age: The Meltdown” didn’t quite squeeze into the No. 2 position among the top opening weekends for animated movies. Fox’s preliminary estimates proved $2.5 million shy of official figures released Monday, which positions “Meltdown” as the No. 4 opening for an animated movie. Retaining their ranks are “Shrek 2” at No. 1 with $108.6 million, “The Incredibles” No. 2 with $70.47 million and “Finding Nemo” No. 3 with $70.25 million. Vacating its previous standing to make room for “Meltdown,” “Monsters, Inc.” is No. 5 with $62.6 million.

Top 10 weekend rankings were unchanged, but “Basic Instinct 2” elbowed “Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector” out of a tie for No. 10.

*--* MOVIE 3-DAY TOTAL VENUES AVG WEEKS (STUDIO) GROSS (MILLS.) PER (MILLS.) VENUE

1 Ice Age: The Meltdown $68.0 $68.0 3,964 $17,163 1 (Fox)

2 Inside Man $15.4 $52.5 2,830 $5,455 2 (Universal)

3 ATL $11.6 $11.6 1,602 $7,212 1 (Warner Bros.)

4 Failure to Launch $6.5 $73.1 3,074 $2,103 4 (Paramount)

5 V for Vendetta $6.3 $56.7 2,910 $2,163 3 (Warner Bros.)

6 Stay Alive $4.5 $17.3 2,009 $2,243 2 (Buena Vista)

7 She’s the Man $4.4 $26.6 2,552 $1,736 3 (DreamWorks)

8 Slither $3.9 $3.9 1,945 $1,995 1 (Universal)

9 The Shaggy Dog $3.24 $53.6 2,929 $1,107 4 (Buena Vista)

10 Basic Instinct 2 $3.2 $3.2 1,453 $2,203 1 (Sony/MGM)

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Source: Exhibitor Relations Co.