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The Box-Office Top Five

#1 “Taken” ($24.6 million)
#2 “Paul Blart: Mall Cop” ($14 million)
#3 “The Uninvited” ($10.5 million)
#4 “Hotel for Dogs” ($8.7 million)
#5 “Gran Torino” ($8.6 million)

Liam Neeson went up against kidnappers and the Super Bowl this weekend, and he emerged victorious in at least one of those battles (we wouldn’t want to spoil the movie for you). “Taken” took the top spot at the box office with $24.6 million, exceeding expectations for a weekend usually dominated by football. While Super Bowl Sunday took its chunk out of the total take, the millions made on Friday and Saturday more than made up for the loss, and Hollywood saw grosses go up 1 percent from last year.

The success of “Taken” also proves that women weren’t the only ones who preferred film over football, as exit polls for the movie indicate that the audience was a healthy 50-50 split between men and women. In fact, it was the weekend’s girl-friendly offering that had the poorest performance, with Renée Zellweger’s romantic comedy “New In Town” debuting at a disappointing #8, earning only $6.8 million.

“The Uninvited” did better, opening at #3 with $10.5 million, continuing a January trend that has seen supernatural or horror flicks debuting in the top five, though they haven’t had much staying power.

“Paul Blart: Mall Cop,” on the other hand, has had staying power. Though the comedy finally fell from the #1 spot, it didn’t fall farther than #2, with $14 million, bringing its total gross to $83.4 million. “Hotel For Dogs” hung on to its #4 spot with $8.7 million, for a total gross of $48.2 million. It’s not too surprising to see the only two family-friendly options continuing to rake in the dollars over Super Bowl weekend. You have to entertain the little ones somehow, after all.

But when it comes to box-office champions, the prize goes to “Gran Torino,” which dropped two spots with $8.6 million but has managed to stay in the top five since its wide release five weeks ago. With a box-office total of $110.5 million, it has set a new personal best for Clint Eastwood, beating out his previous $102.2 million record for 1993’s “In the Line of Fire.”