The animated sequel sold about $125.3 million worth of tickets in its first five days of release across North America, its distributor, DreamWorks, said on Sunday. This beats out the previous Wednesday release record, the $124.1 million earned by "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" last December.

For the three days beginning Friday, the traditional start of the weekend box office, the film earned $104.3 million, making it the second-best opener behind "Spider-Man," which kicked off its run with $114.8 million in 2002.

"No one thought we could get above the mid-80s for the three days," said Jim Tharp, president of domestic theatrical distribution at DreamWorks.

DreamWorks executives stated that they had only wised to set a new record for an animated movie opening. This was, just beat the $70 million record set by "Finding Nemo." Not only did it surpass that, it even beat out "Spider-Man" for the best single day opening with a Saturday tally of $44.8 million. "Spider-Man" had held the record at $43.6 million.

The three-day tally for "Shrek 2" also ranks as the best opening so far this year, ahead of "The Passion of the Christ," which debuted with $89.3 million in February.