Animated birds smack down the slasher squeal — and it’s not even close!

The Scream 4 cast of Courtney Cox, David Arquette, Hayden Panettiere,  Neve Campbell, Emma Roberts and Aimee Teegarden were no match for the tropical birds of Rio!

The cartoon about world’s last two blue macaws  – with the voices of Jesse Eisenberg and Anne Hathaway – got much more attention from movie fans on its opening weekend than the latest installment of the Scream series.

Rio took in $40 million, the movie world’s biggest opening weekend of the year, continuing the trend of family-friendly movies leading the way for 2011. Scream 4 brought in only $19.3 million — far below what had been expected!

Hop, another animated family flick that had won the box-office race for the previous two weeks, was third this weekend at $11.2 million. Rio‘s opening even topped Rango, the animated feature starring Johnny Depp, which had been the year’s biggest debut.

Tough economic times may mean that families that may not have enough cash for big vacations can afford a night out together at the movies — as long as there’s a flick everyone will want to see!