'Taken 3' Opens No. 1 For Weekend Box Office Dominating Competitors by Almost $30 Million

The highly-anticipated movie Taken 3 hit theaters this weekend and blew away all expectations. The final movie in the trilogy, the Liam Neeson-led action film brought in $40.4 million this weekend. This came close to Taken 2′s opening weekend of $49.5 million and nearly doubled the original movie Taken which brought in $24.7 million.

Neeson shows that he is an actor that can still draw big numbers at the box office and that people still will pay for a good action movie. Even if fans new the premise of the movie coming in, it was still enticing enough to see what happens and Neeson still has the charisma to deliver. 

None of the other films over the weekend even came close to Taken 3, with the next highest grossing film was Selma bringing in $11.2 million. Selma was expanded to over 2,000 locations this weekend. 

Into the Woods passed the $100 million mark this weekend coming in third with $9.8 million. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies had topped the box-office for three consecutive week but fell to fourth this week, bringing in $9.4 million. Unbroken rounded out the top five with $8.4 million at the box office this weekend and also passed the $100 million mark. Unbroken and Into the Woods have been battling neck and neck at the box office since their Christmas day openings.

The big movie to watch for next weekend will be American Sniper starring Bradley Cooper. The war film directed by Clint Eastwood has been getting rave reviews from critics and the trailers alone get your heart rate up. 

What movies did you see at the theater this weekend?