Optimus Prime is the leader of the Autobots in 'The Transformers', coming to theatres in July. - Contributed

LOS ANGELES (Reuters):

Transformers, the big-budget movie about alien robots battling on earth, crushed the competition in theatres on the weekend, racking up $67.6 million in three days to land at No. 1 on box office charts, according to studio estimates on Sunday.

The widely anticipated action adventure from Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks has tallied $152.6 million in U.S. and Canadian ticket sales in its first week to surpass Spider-Man as the top-grossing, non-sequel film of all time in its first seven days, a Paramount spokesman said.

Other competitors

Disney-Pixar's computer-animated Ratatouille, about a rat who wants to be a chef, came in second over the three-day weekend with $29 million, and Twentieth Century Fox action movie, Live Free or Die Hard was third with $17.4 million.

Paramount and DreamWorks are part of Viacom Inc., Disney-Pixar is a unit of The Walt Disney Co. and Twentieth Century Fox is part of News Corp.