"Lego" dominates North American box office

"The Lego Movie" tops this weekend's North American box office, which shows that Warner Bros. ' has successfully brought the world famous toy on screen.

"The Lego Movie" debuts at a gigantic 69.1 million U.S. dollars in North America, according to studio estimates, becoming the second biggest opening of all time for the month of February.

Directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller, "Lego" is set in a world where an evil president keeps his people numb under his rule. And the story follows an ordinary mini-figure named Emmet who is mistaken for the hero who can save the Lego universe. With the aid of Batman, Uni-Kitty and Benny, among other characters, he must learn to defeat the tyrant.

The toys of everyone's youth has a "fresh" rating of 96 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and received "A" score from first-night moviegoers.

Another debut, George Clooney's "The Monuments Men" took the second place this weekend, with 22.7 million dollars. It is about a World War II crew on a mission to retrieve art masterpieces stolen by the Nazis.

This star-packed film which stars Clooney, Bill Murray, Matt Damon, Cate Blanchett, John Goodman, has a poor critical response. It holds at 33 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and first-night moviegoers gave it a rate of "B+" on CinemaScore.

The buddy cop comedy "Ride Along" slipped to the third this weekend with 9.4 million dollars. The Universal Pictures' comedy, starring Kevin Hart and Ice Cube, has grossed 105.1 million dollars in four weeks since it has released.

Rounding out the 10 most popular films in North America this weekend, as estimated by studios, were "Frozen" (6.9 million U.S. dollars), "That Awkward Moment" (5.5 million), "Lone Survivor" (5. 3 million), "Vampire Academy" (4.1 million), "The Nut Job" (3.8 million), "Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit" (3.6 million) and "Labor Day " (3.2 million).