Taking the chequered flag! Mr Peabody And Sherman overtakes Need For Speed to win US box office race with $21.2m haul

PUBLISHED: 21:34 EST, 16 March 2014 | UPDATED: 22:11 EST, 16 March 2014

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It looked like it was cruising towards the chequered flag.

However Need For Speed was overtaken down the final straight as animated movie Peabody And Sherman won the race to top the US box office.

The comical time travel movie has proven to be a big hit with youngsters, with family visits at the weekend proving crucial to it racking up an impressive $21.2m haul.

Scooter power: Mr Peabody And Sherman managed to overtake Need For Speed at the US box office

The film impressively came from behind in its second weekend, despite the fact it was facing competition from movies in their opening weekends.

It seems the picture, which has a respectable 77 per cent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatroes, is benefiting from its strong reviews and the fact it is the most recent of the current animated films on show.

Need For Speed had been favourite to win top honours on St Patrick's Weekend, but ended up slipping down to third place despite the hype.

Punctured: The hype around Need For Speed did not pan out as it slipped from an early lead into third place

The film, which is based on the popular video game series of the same name, disappointed in taking $17.81m on its opening weekend.

Need for viewers: Disney is hoping word of mouth will persuade younger viewers to embrace the film

With ratings of 24 per cent fresh, it seems the illegal street racing and revenge picture is very much a poor man's The Fast And The Furious.

Dave Hollis of distributor Disney tried to put a positive spin on things by pointing out its worldwide performance, telling Entertainment Weekly: 'Overall, having a $63 million weekend worldwide when the movie cost what it did — it cost $66 million — we’re off to a fine start.

'The domestic number is a little disappointing.'

The lack of turnout among younger people was cited as a reason for the poor performance, with people aged 12 to 17 making up 13 percent of the audience.

Mr Hollis said: 'They’ve been really — and not even for just this movie, but for the industry — the toughest audience segment to predict and the toughest to depend on following through because of distractions that exist in their space.

'We’re still trying to figure out how we’ll get them into theaters.'

Meanwhile 300: Rise Of An Empire, managed a respectable $19.1m take, which allowed it to secure seconds spot.

It managed to top the charts on its opening weekend last week, after it took a mammoth $45m.

The follow-up to Gerard Butler's star-making 2007 film 300, it takes place before, during, and after the events of that film.

Abs-olutely fabulous: 300: Rise Of An Empire's success is surely helped by the washboard stomachs on display that make it an easier sell for action fans to their girlfriends

While the film has received decidedly mixed reviews, it appears Warner Bros will be having the last laugh due to its popularity among the paying public.

Liam Neeson's star power helped French–American mystery-thriller Non-Stop to continue it's impressive spell in the top-five by taking fourth spot after raking in another $10.6m.

And Tyler Perry's The Single Mom's Club managed to overcome awful reviews to manage a $8.3m take on its opening weekend.

Perhaps unwary punters were attracted to a cast that includes Nia Long, Amy Smart, Cocoa Brown and William Levy.