According to numbers crunched by The Hollywood Reporter, the film also scored the third-largest animated opening ever, sliding in behind Monster's, Inc. ($62.6 million) and Toy Story 2 ($57.4 million). And the nearly $48 million take is also the largest opening so far in 2002. Ice Age also becomes the biggest ever non-Disney animated opener – surpassing Shrek's $42.4 million opening.
The game-to-film adaptation of Resident Evil debuted in second place with around $18.2 million. The film cost around $30 million to make and should turn a profit over the next couple of weeks. Sony's president of worldwide marketing and distribution was especially pleased. He told THR, "It was a really good marketing job by Screen Gems. This exceeded everyone's expectations. Video game properties tend to draw more young males, but because of our stars, Milla and Michelle, we got the young women as well."
Showtime, starring Eddie Murphy and Robert De Niro, finished the weekend in third place with $15.4 million.
Last week's top film, The Time Machine, fell to fourth place – taking in $10.9 million.
Mel Gibson's We Were Soldiers rounded out the top five with around $8.8 million. The Vietnam war drama has earned $53.6 million in three weeks.
In other box office news, Best Picture hopefuls A Beautiful Mind and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring were still very much in play. Mind was ninth with approximately $3.4 million, while Fellowship finished in eleventh place with $2.1 million – bringing its total to around $294.3 million.
In limited release, Universal's Harrison's Flowers delivered approximately $844,000 from 398 theaters, while IFC's Y Tu Mama Tambien debuted in 40 locations with an estimated $435,169. Fox Searchlight's Kissing Jessica Stein earned around $355,000 from 26 houses.
| Rank | Previous | Film Title | Distributor | Weekend | Total | Weeks | Theaters |
| 1 | - | Ice Age | Fox | $47,850,000 | $47,850,000 | 1 | 3316 |
| 2 | - | Resident Evil | Sony | $18,200,000 | $18,200,000 | 1 | 2528 |
| 3 | - | Showtime | Warner Bros. | $15,360,000 | $15,360,000 | 1 | 2917 |
| 4 | 1 | The Time Machine | DreamWorks | $10,900,000 | $40,100,000 | 2 | 2958 |
| 5 | 2 | We Were Soldiers | Paramount | $8,800,000 | $53,638,000 | 3 | 3143 |
| 6 | 3 | All About the Benjamins | New Line | $4,850,000 | $17,435,000 | 2 | 1519 |
| 7 | 4 | 40 Days and 40 Nights | Miramax | $4,600,000 | $30,100,000 | 3 | 2312 |
| 8 | 5 | John Q | New Line | $3,725,000 | $64,480,000 | 5 | 2019 |
| 9 | 8 | A Beautiful Mind | Universal | $3,400,000 | $149,200,000 | 13 | 1533 |
| 10 | 6 | Return to Neverland | Buena Vista | $2,300,000 | $45,300,000 | 5 | 1895 |
