1. Taken 2- $50M
Turns out Liam Neeson's particular set of skills involves overcoming crushing critical reviews, as Taken 2's $50M opening is one of the largest in October history. Not bad for a film Neeson didn't really seem all that excited to make, and has been chatty about the franchise being done. For him, anyway. The first film was kind of a surprise hit, but expectations were much higher for the sequel, and with it doing just as much business overseas, Taken 2 is well on the way to surpassing Taken's $220M haul.
2. Hotel Transylvania- $26.3M/$76M
Clearly taking advantage of the Halloween month, the Adam Sandler-led animated film more than held up and should easily push its way past the $100M mark.
3. Pitch Perfect- $14.7M/$21.6M
After scoring the top per site average in limited release last week, Anna Kendrick's all-girl a capella flick kept it going with an equally strong 2nd weekend. The studio has smartly put their marketing muscle into a strong social networking campaign that may prove as a template for other young-skewing crowdpleasers.
4. Looper- $12.2M/$40.3M
5. Frankenweenie- $11.5M
Oof! An ugly start for Tim Burton's stop-motion animated Frankenweenie, which was pounded by a number of outside factors that limited its upside. First of all, Hotel Transylvania is likely yanking at much the same demographic. Also, audiences may have been burned out after catching the similar ParaNorman just a couple of weeks ago. On the plus side, it should play well for the entire month, and if ParaNorman is an example the film will likely stick around for awhile. Considering the rave reviews Burton has earned for finally doing something exciting again, I'd hate to see the film fail.
6. End of Watch- $3.8M/$32.7M
7. Trouble with the Curve- $3.8M/$29.7M
8. House at the End of the Street- $3.7M/$27.5M
9. The Master- $1.8M/$12.3M
10. Finding Nemo 3D- $1.55M/$39M
