The final installment of Liam Neeson 's covert operative series, "Taken 3," grossed an estimated $14.7 million from 3,954 movie screens on Friday - for a projected weekend total that will probably top $35 million, well above initial projections of $30 million. All of this despite the fact that the film was not exactly hailed by critics.
Meryl Streep appeared on The Graham Norton Show to chat about her career and the conversation turned to one of her all-time worst audition experiences. Streep recalled the disheartening experience of auditioning for Dino De Laurentiis , only to learn she wasn't pretty enough to take the leading female role.
Though Neeson starred as Jedi master Qui-Gon Jinn in 1999's "Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace" and as assassin Ra's al Ghul in Christopher Nolan's recent "The Dark Knight Trilogy," it wasn't until after the cult status of It's an envious role to actors like Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger, '80s action stars who have tried to revitalize their careers for younger generations after the success of "The Expendables," only to turn up with box-office bomb after box-office bomb . The change in Neeson's career came after the sudden death of his wife of 15 years in March 2009.
Film - "Taken 3"; Cast - Liam Neeson, Forest Whitaker, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen, Sam Spruell, Dougray Scott, Dylan Bruno, Leland Orser and Jon Gries; Director - Olivier Megaton; Rating - ** "Somebody murdered your mother in my house. I don't know who did it or why, but I'll find out," Bryan Mills assures his daughter Kim.
We all know Bryan Mills from the Taken series has a particular set of skills. But what are they really? Is he good at baking cakes? Can he play "Flight of the Bumblebee" on the harmonica? In an effort to figure out exactly what Bryan Mills is good at, we've poured through the Taken films and made some educated guesses.
Adult-film enthusiasts who'll go to this weekend to the megaplexes to see Inherent Vice , Paul Thomas Anderson's latest, may be surprised to see hardcore porn legend Belladonna in a brief role as a slinky-yet-insightful temptress. Of course, she's not the only skin-flick siren to slip into the mainstream world - not even in Anderson's own filmography.
If you've seen any of the Taken movies, you know that Liam Neeson will stop at nothing to protect his daughter, played by Maggie Grace . Apparently, this protectiveness applies in real life, too! On Thursday's Conan , Maggie, 31, revealed how Liam, aka "the best fake movie dad any girl could ask for," prank called her ex-boyfriend in character with a warning.
JEREMY : Oh look, another "Taken" movie. Here's a question: Is it me or are all the Liam Neeson middle-aged asskicker action movies just other sequels to the original "Taken?" There's the original "Taken."
In theatres this weekend: Liam Neeson returns as Bryan Mills in Taken 3; the Martin Luther King Jr. marching movie, Selma... British actor David Oyelowo stars as American civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma , released into theatres this weekend. The film chronicles Dr. King's march from Selma to Montomgery, Alabama in 1965, followed by President Lyndon Johnson signing the Voting Rights Act into legislation.