How to Train Your Dragon slays Alice at US box office

The film features the voice of Ugly Betty's America Ferrera

Animated 3D film How to Train Your Dragon has captured audiences in the US, topping the North American box office in its opening weekend.

The film, about a hapless young Viking who aspires to hunt dragons, ended Alice in Wonderland's three-week run at number one with $43.3m (£29m).

Tim Burton's version of Lewis Carroll's tale took $17.3m (£11.5m), bringing its total haul to $293.1m (£195.6m).

John Cusack comedy Hot Tub Time Machine opened at three with $13.7m (£9.1m).

Romantic comedy The Bounty Hunter, starring Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler, fell one place to four while Diary of a Wimpy Kid - based on the best-selling children's books by Jeff Kinney - dropped three places to five.

NORTH AMERICAN BOX OFFICE 1 How to Train Your Dragon - $43.3m 2 Alice in Wonderland - $17.3m 3 Hot Tub Time Machine - $13.7m 4 The Bounty Hunter - $12.4m 5 Diary of a Wimpy Kid - $10m Source: Hollywood.com

3D movies have led the box office in North America for nine of the 13 weekends of 2010.

But the success of How to Train Your Dragon highlights the limits on how much 3D traffic US cinemas are equipped to handle.

The film took over the bulk of 3D screens at the expense Alice in Wonderland because the roughly 4,000 screens capable of showing digital 3D movies were insufficient to handle two full wide-release films at the same time.

After a 15-week run, James Cameron's blockbuster Avatar also lost most of its remaining 3D screens to How to Train Your Dragon, finally falling out of the top 10.

It took $2m (£1.33m) to finish at 11, raising its total so far to $740.4m (£493.5m).