The fourth installment from the Shrek franchise was the top movie at the North American box office over the weekend, getting $71.3m (£43.9m) on its very first three days on release.
Yet Shrek Forever After did not perform and also its two predecessors, Shrek 2 and Shrek the Third, both of which made additional than $100m (£69m) in their debut weekends.
A spokeswoman for DreamWorks Animation admitted its takings were “a small lower than we anticipated”.
Featuring the voices of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy and Cameron Diaz, the fourth Shrek movie may be the first inside series to be shown in 3D.
Its chart-topping debut ended Iron Man 2′s two-week reign as box office champion inside US and Canada.
The comic book sequel dropped down a spot to two with third weekend takings of £26.6m (£18.3m), getting its overall domestic tally to additional than $251.2m (£173.9m).
Shrek Forever After finds its eponymous ogre experiencing a mid-life crisis that leads him to strike a bargain with crafty Rumpelstiltskin.
According to Anne Globe, DreamWorks Animation’s head of worldwide marketing, the studio was “kind of in uncharted territory”.
“It’s not where you begin, it’s where you finish,” she said with the movie, which will probably be released within the UK on 2 July.
Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood movie also fell one place to three with a second weekend haul of £18.7m (£12.9m). Starring Russell Crowe, the film – believed to have cost at least $155m (£107.4m) to make – has underperformed at US and Canada cinemas.
One more movie that failed to meet expectations was MacGruber, a comic spoof on the 1980s TV series MacGyver starring Will Forte.
Based on a sketch featured on Saturday Night Live, the film opened in sixth position with weekend takings of $4.1m (£2.8m).
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