Movies

Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Neeson CIA thriller helps push Holywood to best January ever

By: Staff Writer

2/02/2009 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

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 per cent in January over the same period last year, reaching a record $1.03 billion for the month. Attendance was up 16 per cent 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. Going to a movie is a habit people aren't willing to break."

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.

-- The Associated Press

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 2, 2009 D2

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