Fifty-nine might seem a bit on the grey end of things to be a believable action hero. But don’t tell Liam Neeson. In the last few years, the Irish-born actor has become a big-screen protagonist that bad guys have learned—the hard way—not to trifle with. Whether he’s taking on thugs who kidnapped his daughter (2008’s Taken) or thieves who’ve pilfered his wife, career and identity (2011’s Unknown), you don’t want to be the person who makes this man angry.
Or, as it turns out, the wolf.
Neeson’s latest effort, the gritty, R-rated action adventure The Grey, finds him stepping into the snow-covered boots of an Alaskan wolf hunter who unexpectedly finds himself (along with a few other unfortunates) becoming the hunted when their plane crashes in the Alaskan wilderness. But don’t think that the wolves get off easy either.
Audiences, it seemed, wolfed down that premise with a vengeance. The Grey topped the box office, devouring an estimated $20 million in its weekend debut. That figure is slightly less than Taken’s $24.7 million opening and Unknown’s $21.9 million bow. Both of those films, however, were more accessible due to their PG-13 ratings and featured marketing muscle from the major studios that delivered them.
The Grey, in contrast, was just the second film from new distributor Open Road Films. Writing for Box Office Mojo, Ray Subers observes, “For The Grey to even come close to those movies [Taken and Unknown] speaks both to Mr. Neeson’s drawing power and the importance of having an interesting, easily conveyable story (in this case, it was ‘Liam Neeson fights wolves!’).”
As it turns out, there was actually a bit more to the story than that. Plugged In reviewer Paul Asay talks at length about the surprising spiritual subtext in the film, namely whether the powerlessness that Neeson and Co. experience in the teeth of the Alaskan winter (and the wolves, it should be noted) is evidence of God’s abandonment or evidence of every person’s absolute dependence upon something bigger than themselves.
Elsewhere at the box office, last weekend’s champ, Underworld: Awakening, unearthed another $12.5 million to claim the No. 2 spot, a 51% drop from its debut. The latest Underworld entry’s 10-day total hit $45.1 million, a franchise best.
Meanwhile, two other newcomers struggled. Katherine Heigl’s comedic mystery misadventure One for the Money (based on Janet Evanovich’s novel of the same name) clocked in at No. 3 with a middling $11.75 million. Heigl’s latest critical bomb earned a scant 3% “fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and Paul Asay described it as “foul and frothy.” Sam Worthington’s thriller Man on a Ledge faired a bit better with critics but worse among moviegoers, eking out a No. 5 showing with its $8.3 million debut.
Sandwiched between those two newcomers at the No. 4 spot was the George Lucas-produced World War II tale of the Tuskegee Airmen, Red Tails, adding another $10.4 million to its cume.
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