Former Jedi Knight, Liam Neeson, stormed the box office this weekend as his new action movie, Taken, opened at #1. The fourth horror movie to be released in the last 4 weeks, The Uninvited, stumbled out of the gates, failing to reach the heights of other recent horror films. The latest romantic comedy starring Renee Zellweger, New in Town, failed to counter program the Super Bowl this weekend, opening to poor numbers in 8th place.
Liam Neeson stars as a former government operative whose daughter is kidnapped in Taken. The film opened to a much stronger than expected $24.6M, proving that audiences were hungry for a new action film. Taken’s strong debut is the second highest debut on Super Bowl weekend behind last year’s Hannah Montana concert, which bowed to a massive $31.1M. The film also performed well due to a brilliant marketing campaign that highlighted the gritty action style found in the Jason Bourne films. With no real action competition opening in the next few weeks, Taken should hold up well and have a final gross in the $80M range.
After weeks of new scary movies, Horror thriller The Uninvited, failed to excite moviegoers this weekend, collecting only $10.5M in its debut frame. This is star Elizabeth Banks fourth film since October to open with $10M or more. She is a versatile actress starring in everything from gross out comedies (Zack and Miri Make a Porno) to political dramas (she played Laura Bush in W) to horror films and I expect her to have a long career in front of her.
This weekend’s third and last new release is the romantic comedy, New in Town, starring Renee Zellweger and Harry Connick Jr. Generally Super Bowl weekend is a good time to release a film catered to women, but this one failed to capitalize on females looking for a break from the testosterone of their Football obsessed husbands, grossing only $6.7M. New in Town will be a distant memory by next weekend when romantic comedy, He’s Just Not That Into You and its gigantic cast make its way into theatres. To see how all my predictions fared, check out the chart below.
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RANK
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TITLE
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JANUARY 30 – FEBRUARY 1
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JANUARY 23-25
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% CHANGE
|
# OF THEATRES
|
# OF WEEKS
|
TOTAL
|
BILL SAID
|
|
1
|
Taken
|
$24.6M
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
3183
|
1
|
$24.6M
|
$20M
|
|
2
|
Paul Blart: Mall Cop
|
$14M
|
$21.6M
|
-35%
|
3206
|
3
|
$83.3M
|
$14M -35%
|
|
3
|
The Uninvited
|
$10.5M
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
2344
|
1
|
$10.5M
|
$11.5M
|
|
4
|
Hotel for Dogs
|
$8.7M
|
$12.8M
|
-32%
|
3160
|
3
|
$48.2M
|
$8.4M -35%
|
|
5
|
Gran Torino
|
$8.6M
|
$16.2M
|
-47%
|
3015
|
8
|
$110M
|
$9.7M -40%
|
|
6
|
Slumdog Millionaire
|
$7.7M
|
$10.7M
|
-28%
|
1633
|
12
|
$67.2M
|
$8.6M -20%
|
|
7
|
Underworld: Rise of the Lychans
|
$7.2M
|
$20.8M
|
-65%
|
2942
|
2
|
$32.8M
|
$7.3M -65%
|
|
8
|
New in Town
|
$6.7M
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
1941
|
1
|
$6.7M
|
$6M
|
|
9
|
My Bloody Valentine 3-D
|
$4.3M
|
$10M
|
-57%
|
1406
|
3
|
$44.6M
|
45M -50%
|
|
10
|
Inkheart
|
$3.7M
|
$7.6M
|
-51%
|
2655
|
2
|
$12.8M
|
N/A
|