When to comes to animated fare in Hollywood, this town may not be big enough for both “Rango’s” sheriff and the laser guns of “Mars Needs Moms.”

Paramount/Nickelodeon’s “Rango” proved resilient, grossing $23-million one week after the Johnny Depp-voiced film debuted as the box-office champ with $38-million -- and winning animation’s current battle of Los Angeles.

Disney’s 3-D/IMAX/motion-capture animation “Mars Needs Moms” was much slower on the draw, pulling in a disappointing $6.8-million in its debut, according to domestic-market studio estimates compiled by Reuters. Some industry observers had predicted the film from producer Robert Zemeckis and director Simon Wells would gross at least $10-million.

Last spring, DreamWorks Animation’s “How to Train Your Dragon” and Tim Burton’s live-action/CGI-animation hybrid “Alice in Wonderland” (also headlined by Depp) were both able to win over much of the same audience, each elbowing their way to box-office success.

With only a week between their dueling-animation releases, though, “Mars” may have partly been undercut by “Rango’s” staying power.

Another alien adventure, Sony’s “Battle: Los Angeles” (starring “The Dark Knight’s” Aaron Eckhart), won the weekend with $36-million and finished well ahead of (in order) “Rango,” “Red Riding Hood” ($14.1-million), “The Adjustment Bureau” ($11.5-mill) and “Mars Needs Moms.”