This weekend audiences are offered 3 new choices at the multiplex; an action thriller, the fourth horror thriller in as many weeks and a romantic comedy that hope to counter program the Super Bowl.

Liam Neeson stars in Taken as a former government operative who is forced out of retirement to rescue his abducted daughter. Neeson has had quite a career, but he is usually relegated to supporting roles, so his box office prowess is largely untested. However, Taken should perform fairly well over the weekend as there really is no competition and it has been sometime since there has been a straight up action flick at the box office. Look for Taken to take $20M out of the box office this weekend.

The Uninvited is a horror thriller about two teenage girls that suspect their soon to be step mother played by Elizabeth Banks is really a psychotic killer. Is it me or is Elizabeth Banks the hardest working woman in Hollywood? She’s recently starred in Definitely, Maybe, Meet Dave, Zack and Miri, W and Role Models. The Uninvited is the sixth film she’s starred in over this past year. Not to mention her TV appearances. Wow, when does she sleep? Anyway, audiences generally respond to what I call The Hand That Rocks the Cradle genre so The Uninvited should have a decent debut with about $11.5M.

The last new film of the week is a romantic comedy starring Renee Zellweger and Harry Connick Jr. generically titled, New in Town. The reviews have been horrible and the only chance of New in Town making money is if women looking to escape the testosterone of the Super Bowl decide to check it out. That being said, this clunker may debut with about $6M this weekend.

Among holdovers, Paul Blart: Mall Cop will continue to arrest viewers dropping only 35% to add another $14M to its tally. Clint Eastwood will continue to lure viewers to what is said to be his last leading man role in Gran Torino, bringing in another $9.7M. After a couple of weeks of surging at the box office, Slumdog Millionaire should dip a slim 20% and add another $8.6M to it’s astounding $56M gross. To see the rest of my predictions, check out the chart below.