Insofar as the tepid response to “Taken 2” cooled interest in the franchise, “Taken 3” did not enter the marketplace with the same buzz and momentum as its predecessor.
Given that reality, it had no chance of exceeding the “Taken 2” box office mark on opening night.
It did, however, get off to a very respectable start.
With a first-day gross of $14.7 million (down from the $18.4M earned by “Taken 2” but up from the $9.4 million net by “Taken”), “Taken 3” cruised to victory at the Friday box office. Newly expanded “Selma,” its closest competitor, earned only $3.8 million Friday.
Other top five films included “Unbroken” ($2.6 million), “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies” ($2.5 million) and “Into the Woods” ($2.5 million).
Even though “Taken 2” scored a much stronger debut tally than its predecessor, its shorter shelf life resulted in a lesser cumulative total. It will be interesting to see how “Taken 3” fares from a longevity perspective.