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Moviegoers were held captive by "Taken 2" at the box office this weekend, as the Liam Neeson sequel had a superb No. 1 debut.
The kidnapping action-thriller opened to a strong $50 million, according to an estimate from distributor Twentieth Century Fox. That's double what the first "Taken" launched with back in 2009, when its $24.7-million start surprised on the historically slow Super Bowl weekend.
While the Neeson flick met the highest of industry projections, the stop-motion animated "Frankenweenie" fell short of even its studio's modest hopes. The Walt Disney Studios 3-D film collected a lackluster $11.5 million during its first weekend in theaters, marking another disappointing debut for writer-director Tim Burton this year.
Meanwhile, after an excellent start in limited release last weekend, the a capella comedy "Pitch Perfect" expanded to theaters nationwide and brought in a respectable $14.7 million. The film has now sold $21.6 million worth of tickets in 10 days.