The seductive cat burglar of 'Puss in Boots' stole the box office's top spot this weekend, though the spoils may have been limited by a World Series that stretched into Friday night and a mid-autumn snowstorm.

DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc.'s film, a spin-off of the studio's popular 'Shrek' series, grossed $34 million from 3,952 domestic locations, according to early estimates.

While the animated film, featuring the voices of Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek and Zach Galifianakis, is set to become the highest grossing Halloween-weekend film of all time, surpassing a record set in 2006 by 'Saw III' with $33.6 million, 'Puss in Boots' fell short when compared to opening-weekend grosses for the studio's previous releases.

DreamWorks Animation's chief marketing officer, Anne Globe, said the film performed better than anticipated with certain groups, such as Hispanic moviegoers, who made up 35% of its audience over the weekend. But it faced unexpected challenges from both the slushy snowstorm that walloped the Northeast and Friday night's World Series Game 7.

'We think it's a very good start,' Ms. Globe said. 'We did not imagine 'Puss' would meet snow boots in October, however, so that's a big surprise.' She estimated that the adverse weather conditions shaved the box office results by about $2 million.

'Puss in Boots,' was distributed by Viacom Inc.'s Paramount Pictures, which also captured the weekend's second spot with 'Paranormal Activity 3.' That low-budget scary movie took in $18.5 million over the weekend, according to early estimates, bringing its domestic gross to $81.3 million.

Other new releases found limitedaudiences. 'In Time,' released by News Corp.'s Twentieth Century Fox and starring Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried, grossed $12 million from 3,122 locations in its openingweekend. News Corp. also owns The Wall Street Journal.

And 'The Rum Diary,' starring Johnny Depp and based on a novel by Hunter S. Thompson, grossed just over $5 million over the weekend, according to early estimates.

'While we all wish the numbers were better, we're proud of the film and its lovingtribute to Hunter S. Thompson,' said a statement from Bob Berney, president of theatricaldistribution at FilmDistrict, which released the film.