The final instalment of Liam Neeson’s covert operative series, Taken 3, grossed an estimated $14.7 million (Dh53.9 million) from 3,954 US movie screens on Friday — for a projected weekend total that will probably top $35 million, well above initial projections of $30 million. All of this despite the fact that the film was not exactly hailed by critics.
In an unusual promotional move, Neeson will be in Dubai on January 12 to promote the film to local media (follow us on @gulfnewstabloid for live updates from the event).
The healthy opening puts the thriller ahead of Universal’s Lone Survivor, which opened with $14.4 million during this same time period last year and just behind Paramount’s The Devil Inside, which took in $16.8 million in the same weekend in 2012.
Taken 3 cost about $48 million to make and was financed by French writer-producer Luc Besson’s EuropaCorp and distributed by 20th Century Fox. It took over the top spot from Warner Bros’ The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, which ended a three-week run at No 1.
In second place on Friday night was director Ava DuVernay’s Martin Luther King biopic Selma, which opened in 2,179 theatres and earned a respectable $3.8 million. The film was financed by Pathe/Harpo Films and distributed by Paramount. Last month, the film received four nominations for Sunday’s Golden Globes, which could help support its continued box-office march.
Also in the top five was Universal’s Unbroken, which grossed $2.6 million on 3,301 screens, followed in a virtual tie by Buena Vista’s Into the Woods, which is playing on 2,833 screens, and The Hobbit, both with about $2.5 million.
