300 sequel slays competition at US box office

Eva Green plays Artemisia, the ruthless commander of the Persian naval forces

The sequel to 2006 hit 300 slayed the competition at cinemas this weekend, earning $45.1m (£27m) in the US and Canada and $87.8m (£52.6m) worldwide.

300: Rise of an Empire did not equal its predecessor's first weekend tally of $70.9m (£42m) in North America, but still performed far above expectations.

"Clearly we captured a much broader audience than we anticipated," Warner Bros executive Jeff Goldstein said.

Set in ancient Greece, it depicts a sea battle between Greeks and Persians.

The film only briefly features 300 star Gerard Butler as King Leonidas - leader of the Spartan army who famously held off a vastly superior Persian force - concentrating instead on a female warrior played by Casino Royale's Eva Green.

Her participation is understood to have boosted the female audience for this male-skewed release to 38% - a 9% increase on the original's 29%.

Outside North America, the film was also the top draw in Brazil, Russia, Mexico, Germany, Spain, Italy and the UK.

Some $12m (£7m) of its opening weekend tally from the 58 markets in which it played came from 3D Imax screenings.

In the US and Canada, Noam Murro's follow-up to Zack Snyder's comic book-inspired original comfortably saw off Mr Peabody & Sherman, its nearest competitor.

The animated title about a time-travelling dog and his human son, which opened in the UK on 7 February, took $32.5m (£19.4m) between Friday and Sunday, according to studio estimates.

Liam Neeson's airborne action film Non-Stop - last week's number one - fell to three in this week's chart, taking $15.4m (£9.2m) in the US and an additional $12m (£7m) worldwide.

Toy spin-off The Lego Movie and the Christianity-themed Son of God rounded out this week's top five, according to box office tracking firm Rentrak.