Will Ferrell took the checkered flag at the weekend box office in North America with his new comedy "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.

According to studio estimates issued on Sunday, "Talladega Nights" was expected to earn around $47 million for the three days beginning August 4. The tally consists of actual data for Friday and Saturday, and an estimate for Sunday; final data will be issued on Monday.

The movie, which cost about $72 million to make, marks the second biggest opening for a non-sequel comedy, behind Jim Carrey's 2003 hit "Bruce Almighty" with $68 million.

It also scores a new record for Ferrell, surpassing the $31.1 million bow of his 2003 smash "Elf."

"Talladega Nights" was released by Columbia Pictures, a unit of Sony Corp. Thanks to a lineup highlighted by the worldwide blockbuster "The Da Vinci Code," the studio said it was on track to cross the $1 billion mark at the domestic box office by midweek, becoming the first to achieve that feat this year.

The market share crown is currently held by Walt Disney Co. , the firm behind "Cars" and "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest."

"Talladega Nights" stars Ferrell as a goofball driver on the NASCAR circuit, headlining a cast that also includes John C. Reilly and British comic Sacha Baron Cohen, a.k.a. "Ali G." It was directed and co-written by Adam McKay, who previously worked with Ferrell on the comedy "Anchorman." Ferrell promoted the movie on such shows as CNN's "Larry King Live" and NBC's "The Tonight Show" dressed as Ricky Bobby.

Paramount Pictures' animated feature "Barnyard" opened at No. 2 with $16 million, exceeding diminished industry expectations a week after Warner Bros' cartoon "The Ant Bully" bombed with an $8.4 million opening. Paramount, a unit of Viacom Inc., expects its relatively economical $50 million film to play strongly through the rest of summer.

Third spot went to the biggest movie of the year so far, "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," with $11 million; the total for Disney's pirate romp rose to $379.7 million after five weekends.

Last weekend's leader, Universal Pictures' "Miami Vice," slid to No. 4 with $9.7 million after losing 64 percent of its audience. Most big films usually lose between 50 and 60 percent in their second weekends. The 10-day total for director Michael Mann's $135 million crime drama rose to $45.7 million. Universal is a unit of General Electric Co.'s NBC Universal Inc.

The low-budget British thriller "The Descent," about a group of terrorized female spelunkers, opened at No. 5 with $8.8 million, in line with the expectations of its distributor, Lionsgate. The unit of Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. said the film would be "very profitable."