Ancient warrior Beowulf has slayed the competition at the U.s. box office in its first week on release.

The movie adaptation of the epic poem, featuring the voices and animated recreations of Angelina Jolie, Anthony Hopkins and Ray Winstone, claimed $28.1 million in its opening weekend.

Almost 50 per cent of that figure came from special 3-D screenings.

Animated family film Bee Movie, which stung the countdown by claiming the top spot last weekend, dropped to two on the new chart with a respectable third weekend take of $14.3 million.

The film, written and featuring comedian Jerry Seinfeld, has now made almost $100 million in just three weeks.

Denzel Washington's gangland drama American Gangster fell to three, Christmas film Fred Claus continued it's slide to four and Dustin Hoffman's new family film, Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, debuted at five with $10 million.

Meanwhile, Tom Cruise's political drama Lions For Lambs is an official flop - it made just $3 million in its second week on release and slipped to eight. The film has only just broken $10 million in 10 days.