Jim Carrey is the voice of Horton in 20th Century Fox's Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who [Agencies]

Fox officials now expect Horton's box office appeal would extend through the coming Easter weekend and beyond, as students are out of school for the spring break.

Two other movies that debuted in the top ten this weekend were "Never Back Down," in third place with 8.6 million dollars, and number-seven "Doomsday," with 4.7 million dollars.

Last week's box office leader, "10,000 BC" slipped to No. 2 with 16.4 million dollars over the weekend, while Disney comedy " College Road Trip" and Sony Pictures' anti-terror thriller " Vantage Point" were at No. 4 and No. 5, with 7.9 million and 5.4 million dollars respectively.

Meanwhile, overall box office revenues in North America were estimated at 127 million dollars over the weekend, up some 8.5 percent from the same weekend last year.