Norma Jean, left (voiced by Nicole Kidman), young Mumble, right (voiced by E.G. Daily), and Memphis (voiced by Hugh Jackman) together as a happy family.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters):

Where James Bond villains Goldfinger and Blofeld failed, a group of cartoon penguins got the better of Agent 007 in an unusually tight race at the weekend box office in North America.

According to studio estimates issued yesterday, the animated tale Happy Feet earned US$42.3 million during its first three days of release across the United States and Canada, while the latest James Bond movie Casino Royale pulled in US$40.6 million.

The data were provided by the films' respective studios, Time Warner Inc.'s Warner Bros. and Sony Corp.'s Columbia Pictures. Some other studios, using their own calculations, said the margin was considerably narrower and that Bond could win out when final data are released today. Columbia agreed that the difference could be slimmer, but conceded the fight to Happy Feet.

Singing and Dancing

The cartoon, revolving around singing and dancing emperor penguins, was directed by Australian filmmaker George Miller, the producer of the Babe and Mad Max films. Warner Bros. split the costs equally on the US$100 million project with Australian entertainment company Village Roadshow Ltd., and the two will share any profits.

The film features the voices of Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman, Robin Williams and the late Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin.

Some box office prognosticators had predicted Happy Feet could reach the US$50 million range, but Warner Bros. distribution President Dan Fellman said the US$40 million threshold was "the magic number for us". With the U.S. Thanksgiving Day holiday on Thursday, the studio expects family moviegoers to sustain ticket sales.

Casino Royale, the first outing of Daniel Craig as the suave superspy, also earned US$42.2 million outside the United States and Canada. The biggest markets were Britain (US$25.6 million) and Russia (US$3.7 million).

The domestic opening was down considerably from the $47 million bow of the previous Bond film, 2002's Die Another Day, which ended up with US$161 million. But Columbia said the opening compared favourably with Pierce Brosnan's 007 debut GoldenEye, which started with US$26.2 million in 1995 and finished with US$106 million. (Sales are not adjusted for ticket price inflation.)

The film's openings in the coming week include Germany, France and Spain. Bond arrives in Japan on December 1. Casino Royale is a co-production with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc., a closely held firm in which Sony has a stake.

After two weeks at No. 1, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan fell to No. 3 with US$14.4 million. The mock documentary, starring British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen as a cluelessly offensive, oversexed TV reporter from Central Asia, has earned US$90.5 million to date. It was released by Twentieth Century Fox, a unit of News Corp.

The top 10 movies at the North American box office for the three-day weekend beginning November 17, led by Happy Feet, according to studio estimates compiled yesterday by Reuters. Final data will be issued today.

1 () Happy Feet - US$42.3 million

2 () Casino Royale - US$40.6 million

3 (1) Borat - US$14.4 million

4 (2) The Santa Clause 3 - US$8.2 million

5 (3) Flushed Away- US$6.8 million

6 (4) Stranger than Fiction - $ 6.6 million

7 (6) Babel - US$2.9 million

8 (5) Saw III - US$2.8 million

9 (7) The Departed - US$2.6 million

10 (12) The Queen - US$2.3 million

NOTE: Last weekend's rankings in parentheses.denotes new release. Let's Go To Prison opened at No. 12 with US$2.1 million.