Dr Seuss' Horton Hears A Who [Agencies]

The animated adaptation of a beloved children's book by Dr Seuss hit big screen this weekend in North America with an elephant-sized box office, and became the strongest-opening movie this year.

"Dr Seuss' Horton Hears A Who" is on track to sell 45.1 million U.S. dollars in tickets at U.S. and Canadian theaters over the three-day-period, according to preliminary figures released Sunday by box office tracking firm Media By Numbers.

The 20th Century Fox release, with voices of famous comedians like Jim Carrey and Steve Carell, is the third big-screen Seuss adaptations, after 2000's "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" and 2003's "The Cat in the Hat."

The new film was earlier expected to have a huge weekend, possibly breaking the 55-million-dollar, but its performance of over 11,000 dollars per theater was nothing to sneeze at.

Its opening was still a good 10 percent higher than thriller " Cloverfield," the surprise box office hit that opened with a 40- million-dollar weekend earlier this year, according to Media By Numbers.