Movie: Taken 2 Smashes Box Office On Its Way To $48m Weekend

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I cant wait to watch this sequel, I love the first movie. Im sure Taken 2 will be better.

Oct 06 (TheWrap.com) - Liam Neeson and 'Taken 2" are looking at a $48 million weekend after blasting past their box office rivals Friday and rolling to a first-day total of $18.6 million.

The gangbusters debut for Fox's PG13-rated action sequel marks the second consecutive week a movie has broken out and lifted the box office into positive territory. If the weekend stays on pace, it will finish more than 30 percent ahead of last year, when "Real Steel" lead the way with a $27 million debut.

"Taken 2" is proving impervious to bad reviews, easily topping the $25 million opening weekend of the original film. First-day audiences at 3,661 locations -- it averaged $5,020 per-screen -- gave it a "B+" CinemaScore. The biggest October opening on record is the $52.6 million rung up by "Paranormal Activity 3" last year.

Last week's No. 1 movie, Sony's "Hotel Transylvania," held impressively. With $6.5 million from 3,352 theaters Friday, it's on track to finish second with around $25 million. It looks like families opted for "Hotel Transylvania" at the expense of Disney's "Frankenweenie."

Tim Burton's black-and-white stop-action animated movie, like "Hotel" a horror-comedy targeting kids, brought in around $3.2 million and is on pace for a disappointing $12 million over the three days. "ParaNorman," the third similarly themed family film in the market, debuted with $14 million last month.

Audiences at 3,005 screens, 2,640 of those 3D, gave it a "B+.

Universal's comedy musical "Pitch Perfect" took in $4.8 million Friday and is looking at $14 million for its first weekend in wide release. That's at the high end of expectations for the movie, which expanded to 2,770 locations after bowing strongly in a 355-screen limited run last week.

TriStar and Film District's sci-fi thriller "Looper," starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willlis, took in $3.5 million from 2,993 locations Friday. It's on pace to finish with around $11 million in its second week.

Chicagotribune