We’re all about lessons here at Plugged In, especially if those lessons have something to do with spirituality or morality or how to make your family, um, more familial.
But not every lesson we learn has a spiritual or ethical component. Sometimes our lessons take a more pragmatic hue: never watch Here Comes Honey Boo Boo on an empty stomach, for instance. Always keep the Advil handy during 3-D screenings. And here’s another: If you’re a movie exec, never challenge a Liam Neeson flick when the weather’s chilly.
Neeson’s high-octane rescue/revenge thriller Taken 2 plowed its way to an estimated $50 million weekend—an impressive open at most any time of year, but particularly so for October, when studios typically shovel scads of summertime rejects and low-budget horror movies to the moviegoing public. Taken 2 was actually the third-highest October opening ever, in fact. But perhaps that’s not a huge surprise, given Neeson’s status as the king of fallow film seasons. The original Taken opened in January of ’09 and eventually collected $145 million. Another Neeson thriller, Unknown, barreled to $63 million after being released in February 2011. And just this January, Neeson’s The Gray opened well with $19.7 million en route to a total haul of $51.6 mil. None cost a lot of coin to make, and all three debuted at No. 1.
Taken 2′s strong performance was too much for Hotel Transylvania’s band of animated monsters. Last week’s box office champ earned $26.3 million and slid to second.
But at least it didn’t suffer the fate of the week’s other big new release, Frankenweenie. Despite good reviews (it has an 85% “freshness” rating on rottentomatoes.com, and even we had some nice things to say about it), Tim Burton’s story of a re-animated pooch proved to be a box office dog, scratching out a meager $11.5 million for fifth place. Apparently, most folks who were interested in seeing an animated flick were more opt to trundle off to Transylvania again.
After opening on just 335 screens last weekend, the musical comedy Pitch Perfect expanded to 2,770 this Friday and earned $14.7 million, enough to hit a high note of $14.7 million. Looper finished fourth with $12.2 mil.
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