Moviegoers of All Ages Warm Up to ‘Ice Age’

“Ice Age” froze out the competition at movie theaters as the animated film about prehistoric pals debuted with a whopping $47.9 million, a record for a movie opening in March.

Opening in second place was the video-game adaptation “Resident Evil” with $18.2 million, while the Robert De Niro-Eddie Murphy buddy comedy “Showtime” premiered at No. 3 with $15.4 million, according to estimates Sunday.

Powered by “Ice Age,” the overall weekend box office soared to levels normally seen only in the busy summer or holiday seasons.

The top 12 movies grossed $124.2 million, up 71% from the same weekend a year ago and up nearly 50% from a week ago.

“It’s summer in March,” said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations.

“Ice Age” had the third-best debut ever for an animated film, behind “Monsters, Inc.” at $62.6 million and “Toy Story 2” at $57.4 million. Last year’s top animated film, “Shrek,” grossed $42.4 million in its first weekend and went on to gross $267.7 million, the No. 2 all-time animated film behind “The Lion King.”

The previous best March debut was for “Liar Liar” in 1997 with $31.4 million. That number is more in line with what distributor 20th Century Fox expected to take in with “Ice Age” over opening weekend.

“Obviously, it exceeded our expectations,” said Tom Rothman, Fox studio chairman. “It’s a big number, and the key to that is simple: We got everybody. The movie got adults and young teens as well as families.”

While parents with children accounted for most of the crowds, 30% of “Ice Age” moviegoers were nonfamily audiences, with a lot of teenage boys, said Bruce Snyder, head of distribution for Fox.

“Normally, those teens are a little too old, a little too hip for an animated film, but this one looked clever to them. It didn’t seem childish,” Snyder said.

Set during a deep freeze 20,000 years ago, “Ice Age” features a woolly mammoth voiced by Ray Romano, a sloth (John Leguizamo) and a saber-toothed tiger (Denis Leary) who form an unlikely band returning a human baby to its tribe.