Rio flies away with the weekend box office

Hotly-anticipated slasher sequel Scream 4 had to settle for second place at the US box office this weekend, as Blue Sky Animation's Rio got off to a flying start.

The 3D family caper (which opened in the UK last week), took $40 million over the weekend, with 3D screenings predicted to take up 58% of that figure.

It means Rio has beaten Rango and Hop to claim the highest opening weekend of the year, though that says more about the slow year than anything else.

Scream 4 didn't fare as well as Dimension Films had hoped, but it was no disaster either, with the return to Woodsboro accumulating $19.3 million. That's still considerably lower that the unloved Scream 3 attained, even when not adjusted for inflation.

Still, the fourquel's budget should be easy enough to reclaim. It leaves the possibility of Screams 5 & 6 in a little doubt, though.

Further down the chart, Hop continued to drop severely, taking an estimated $11.2 million, although it may get another topical boost with the upcoming Easter weekend.

Teen drama Soul Surfer held well to take fourth place with $7.4 million, Joe Wright's Hanna was in fifth place with £7.3 million, and Arthur took sixth with $6.9 million.

Horror Insidious has been sustaining steady figures over it's 17 days on the chart, though Your Highness took a steep tumble to take only $3.9 million and scrape into tenth place.

The top ten looked like this:

1. Rio - $40,000,000 ($40,000,000)
2. Scream 4 - $19,279,000 ($19,279,000)
3. Hop - $11,167,000 ($82,609,000)
4. Soul Surfer - $7,400,000 ($19,997,000)
5. Hanna - $7,327,000 ($23,327,000)
6. Arthur - $6,940,000 ($22,348,000)
7. Insidious - $6,857,000 ($35,983,000)
8. Source Code - $6,300,000 ($36,990,000)
9. The Conspirator - $3,924,000 ($3,924,000)
10. Your Highness - $3,895,000 ($15,952,000)