Liam Neeson ‘Unknown’ movie storms U.S. box-office

Liam Neeson rules box-office with 'Unknown'

Liam Neeson solidified his status as a bona fide action star with his movie "Unknown" taking the number one spot in the U.S. box office weekend.

"Unknown" took $21.8 million in sales through Sunday according to the movie's studio Warner Bros. The movie stars Neeson as a botanist whose identity was stolen and tries to piece together the clues to take back his life and identity.

Teen science fiction film "I Am Number Four" was second with $19.5 million. It features Alex Pettyfer as a castaway alien that possesses superpowers.

Liam Neeson is not exactly a stranger to action roles in his long career. But with the success of 2008's "Taken", where he played a retired CIA agent who hunts down his daughter's kidnappers, Neeson forged a new path towards movie star status. The 58-year old continues this newfound direction in "Unknown" which resembles "Taken" in some aspects.

"He's the new man. He's stepped up to the plate. Put him in the right role and he's every man's action star," Dan Fellman, Warner Bros. distribution chief told AP.

At third place was Disney's "Gnomeo & Juliet" with $19.4 million, followed by comedy film "Just Go With It" with $18.2 million. The Adam Sandler-Jennifer Aniston starrer dropped from the number one position last weekend to fourth place, bringing its total haul so far to $60.8 million.

Taking the fifth position, was "Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son" starring funnyman Martin Lawrence. It took $17 million for the weekend.

Industry observers said this year's President's Day weekend reversed a 14-week slide, largely driven by the "Unknown" action thriller of Hollywood's newest box-office action star Liam Neeson.

Posted by Kade Quinn on Tuesday February 22 2011, 4:56 AM EDT. Ref: AP. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Entertainment, Featured News. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0