Moviegoers took Taken to the top of the chart this weekend, in spite of conventional wisdom that says that action thrillers can't work against the power of the Superbowl. Strong performances on Friday and Saturday will propel the movie to a $24.6 million opening weekend, according to Fox's estimate released on Sunday morning. Sony are delighted with another strong hold for Paul Blart: Mall Cop, which was down only 35% to $14 million, while The Uninvited had a decent $10.5 million weekend for Paramount.

New in Town was the biggest disappointment among the openers, scoring $6.75 million, although it wasn't widely expected to do well.

Among the Oscar cohort, The Reader and Milk both expanded, but made only modest improvements in their weekend takes. The Reader earned an estimated $2.4 million in 1,002 theaters and Milk picked up $1.4 million in 882 venues.

- Weekend Estimates

Date posted: 2009-02-01