Crowds are 'Taken' as Hollywood makes history

Last update: February 1, 2009 - 7:41 PM

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LOS ANGELES - Liam Neeson's CIA thriller "Taken" bumped off "Paul Blart: Mall Cop" at the weekend box office, raking in $24.6 million and helping fuel the first $1 billion January in Hollywood history.

North American box office revenues were up nearly 20 percent in January over the same period last year, reaching a record $1.03 billion for the month. Attendance was up 16 percent over last year, said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media by Numbers.

"This is exactly how you want to start a year," Dergarabedian said Sunday. "I think people feel movies are a good value for their dollar."

"Taken" follows Neeson as a former CIA operative trying to track down a group of kidnappers who want to sell his daughter into the sex slave trade.

"We are thrilled. It's an all-audience movie," 20th Century Fox distribution executive Bert Livingston said about "Taken." "When people come out they are going to talk about it. I think it's going to play for a long time."

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. "Grand Torino," $8.6 million.

6. "Slumdog Millionaire," $7.7 million.

7. "Underworld: Rise of the Lycans," $7.2 million.

8. "New in Town," $6.7 million.

9. "My Bloody Valentine 3-D," $4.3 million.

10. "Inkheart," $3.7 million.

ASSOCIATED PRESS