TV Article Box office update: '300: Rise of an Empire' conquers on Friday By Lindsey Bahr Published on March 8, 2014 06:44PM EST Photo: Warner Bros Not even the world’s smartest time-traveling dog could beat the warriors of 300: Rise of an Empire at the box office, Friday. The Zack Snyder-produced sequel to his 2007 blockbuster earned an impressive $17.7 million from 3,470 theaters. Thursday night the R-rated Warner Bros. and Legendary pic had brought in a decent $3.3 million from early showings. With a $108 million price tag, the Eva Green and Sullivan Stapleton-led epic should still net around $45 million this weekend — right on track with predictions. DreamWorks Animation’s Mr. Peabody and Sherman claimed the second place spot with an $8 million Friday from 3,934 theaters. The $145 million, PG-rated family romp seems to be connecting well with audiences who gave it an A Cinema Score. It should earn around $30 million by the time the weekend closes out. Last weekend’s openers Non-Stop and Son of God fell to the third and fourth place spots, respectively. The Liam Neeson thriller dropped about 53 percent with a $4.7 million Friday, bringing its domestic total to $41 million. Meanwhile, Mark Burnett and Roma Downey’s biblical epic earned an estimated $2.7 million (down a staggering 72 percent). Rounding out the top five is The Lego Movie at $2.5 million. The tiny building blocks have stacked up nearly $216.6 in domestic earnings so far. Here’s the top five: 1. 300: Rise of an Empire — $17.71 million 2. Mr. Peabody and Sherman — $8 million 3. Non-Stop — $4.7 million 4. Son of God — $2.7 million 5. The Lego Movie — $2.51 million Finally, in the speciality box office world, Wes Anderson’s stylish caper The Grand Budapest Hotel opened in four theaters in New York and Los Angeles with a $260K Friday — a very impressive $65K per theater average. It’s currently on track to be one of the biggest limited release openings ever. Check back in to EW.com tomorrow for weekend estimates.