"High School Musical 3" dances to top of worldwide weekend box office

Director of the movie Kenny Ortega (C) holds Manly 'Little Pickles' Ortega from the movie, as he poses with cast members Ashley Tisdale (L) and Zac Efron at the premiere of the movie "High School Musical 3: Senior Year" at Galen Center in Los Angeles October 16, 2008.

"High School Musical 3: SeniorYear" danced to the top of worldwide box office this weekend, as the Disney teenager film taking in 42 million U.S. dollars in North America and 40 million dollars overseas in its opening weekend, according to studio estimates released Sunday.

The first big-screen adaptation of Disney's popular television movie series has racked up the best opening receipts for a movie musical ever in Hollywood's history, overpassing the ABBA-inspired "Mama Mia," which set the previous opening record for a musical with 27.8 million dollars in July.

Cast member Ashley Tisdale poses at the premiere of the movie "High School Musical 3: Senior Year" at Galen Center in Los Angeles October 16, 2008.

It also became the first global box office leader since the sixth Batman film "The Dark Knight" was released in July.

"High School Musical 3," which tells the story of students of a fictional New Mexico high school preparing for their graduation performance and attracts audience comprising mostly pre-teen girls and their families, opened in the United States and Canada this weekend simultaneously with 23 overseas markets, including Britain, Germany and Spain.

Meanwhile, Liongate's horror sequel "Saw V" opened in second place with 30.5 million dollars in North America in this pre-Halloween weekend. It was the first time that the franchise didn't make to the top of box office since the original "Saw" debuted No.3 in 2004.

Last week's box office leader, 20th Century Fox's video game adaptation "Max Payne" was in third place with 7.6 million dollars, followed by Disney animal comedy "Beverly Hills Chihuahua" and Warner Bros.' criminal drama "Pride and Glory," a new release, respectively with 6.9 million dollars and 6.3 million dollars.

Hollywood's weekend revenues soared with the combined performance of "High School Musical 3" and "Saw V," as the top-selling 12 movies took in 120.5 million dollars over the three-day period, up 41 percent from the same weekend a year ago.