Russell Brand’s animated Easter movie Hop has broken U.S box office records this weekend, by opening at number one and grossing more than $38million in its first two days of release.

Universal’s festive family comedy features the voice of British comedian Russell Brand and stars X-Men actor James Marsden. The PG-rated film exceeded box office expectations and beat out stiff competition also making their debut this weekend, including Jake Gyllenhaal’s sci-fi thriller Source Code and Saw director James Wan’s latest horror Insidious.

Early estimates indicate that the CGI-comedy Hop opened with a generous $38.1 million, which is a mere one million over the debut of Johnny Depp’s Western flick Rango, which opened a month ago to rave reviews. This means Hop has endured the strongest opening weekend of any movie release this entire year by hopping into first place and setting a very impressive record.

Last week’s number one was Thor Freudenthal’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid, which fell four places after grossing only $10.2million.