'The Ring Two' Tops North American Box Office

Sunday March 20 3:24 PM ET

DreamWorks' horror sequel "The Ring Two," took the Number 1 spot at the North American box office this weekend, knocking the more family-oriented animated sci-fi flick "Robots," into second place.

"Ring Two," starring Naomi Watts and David Dorfman as a mother and her brooding son who are haunted by an evil entity and a mysterious unmarked videotape, pulled in $36 million in over the March 18-20 weekend, box office tracker Exhibitor Relations said on Sunday.

The new film, which opened in 3,332 theaters, fell slightly short of studio executives' expectations of around $40 million. But it handily surpassed the $15 million opening weekend of its predecessor, "The Ring" which bowed in 1,981 theaters in 2002. Final results will be available on Monday.

Directed by Japan's Hideo Nakata, who won high marks with two earlier Japanese-language films in the "Ring" series, "The Ring Two" also stars Sissy Spacek, 30 years after she starred in the horror cult classic, "Carrie." It's rated PG-13.