Ice Age: Continental Drift storms to top of US chart

Ice Age: Continental Drift has stormed to the top of the US box office chart in its opening weekend.

The fourth film in the hit animated franchise took $46m (£29.6m), according to early estimates.

Ray Romano and John Leguizamo are among the stars reprising their roles as the voices of pre-historic animals Manny the mammoth and Sid the sloth.

Last week's number one, The Amazing Spider-Man, fell to second place with $35m (£22.3m).

The superhero film has now taken $201m (£129m) in US ticket sales after two weeks of release.

Including another $320m (£205.7m) from foreign markets, worldwide ticket sales currently stand at $521m (£334.9m), easily making it among the year's top movies.

Seth MacFarlane's R-rated comedy Ted, starring Mark Wahlberg opposite a foul-mouthed CGI teddy bear, finished at three with $22.1m (£14.2m).

Pixar's latest animation, Brave, was the second family film in the top five at four.

While male stripper comedy Magic Magic held firm at five with $9m (£5.8m) worth of ticket sales.

Box office analyst Paul Dergarabedian said the weekend's business was, as expected, below the corresponding weekend last year when Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, set what was then a box office record of $169.2m (£108.8m).

However that situation is likely to change with the much-anticipated release of the final of director Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises, this week.