William John Neeson was born June 7th, 1952 in Northern Ireland. In 1981 he made his debut in Excalibur with a very small part, and 12 years later he won the role of Oskar Schindler in Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List which put him firmly on the map.

He’s had important roles in many of his films but very rarely played the lead. That changed in 2009 with Taken, a movie that turned him from a mentor that often died (*SPOILERS* Batman Begins, Gangs of New York, Kingdom of Heaven, Star Wars) to a bonafide badass in subsequent films such Unknown, The A-Team, and now in The Grey and the upcoming Taken sequel, although he is going back to mentor mode in Battleship this year.

Today we take a look at Liam Neeson’s top 10 biggest box office hits in North America, unadjusted.

I’ll start with a bit of a disclaimer first, after a long debate between me and myself, I’ve decided to include the first film in the Chronicles of Narnia series where Liam Neeson voices the lion Aslan (even though Box Office Mojo won’t). The subsequent movies won’t be featured here because his part in them became much shorter.

10. Unknown (2011) $63.6 million – An engaging thriller about a man that loses his identity after a car accident. So what do you do when not even your wife recognizes you? Well, to find out you have to watch Unknown and trust me, it’s not a waste of time.

9. The A-Team (2010) $77.2 million – A fun action flick based on the popular 80′s hit TV series. It’s a bit light on brain cells but definitely makes up for that with great action set pieces. Don’t listen to the haters out there, give it a try, there’s nothing wrong with some brainless fun now and again.

8. Gangs of New York (2002) $77.8 million – Martin Scorsese’s epic about the gang wars in 19th century New York. Liam Neeson plays Leonardo DiCaprio’s dad in the film, a short yet pivotal part. I said it before, I’ll say it again, Gangs of New York is a must see.

7. The Haunting (1999) $91.4 million – I remember being so hyped for this back in 1999, although I can’t remember exactly why. Probably a combination of the previews and the general premise of the film. If The Grey is Liam Neeson against wolves, The Haunting was him against ghosts, with a twist thrown for good measure.

6. Schindler’s List (1993) $96 million – The story of a true superhero for over 1100 people and winner of 7 Oscars in 1994 including Best Picture and Best Director for Steven Spielberg. Liam Neeson had to settle for a nomination only. Schindler’s List is not an easy film to watch but if you can (and you should), it’s definitely worth every second of those 3 hours and 15 minutes.

5. Taken (2009) $145 million – One of the great action flicks of the last few years, for me at least, up there with the likes of Casino Royale and The Bourne Ultimatum. After grossing little over $80 million internationally over the course of 2008, the film finally opened in the US in January 2009. By that time it was already available on Blu-ray and DVD in many countries around the world yet Taken opened with $24.7 million during the Super Bowl Weekend and went on to gross $145 million, becoming one of the biggest surprise hits of that year. In October Fox will release a completely unnecessary sequel that I’ll probably end up watching opening night.

4. Clash of the Titans (2010) $163.2 million – Liam Neeson makes for a great Zeus here but everything else is just average at best. Suffice to say, in March I won’t be catching Wrath of the Titans on opening night.

3. Batman Begins (2005) $2005.3 million – How awesome was Liam Neeson here, right? Now this is obviously a fantastic movie, my favorite of the Nolan Batman flicks actually and having Liam Neeson return in The Dark Knight Rises makes me scream like a teenage girl at a Justin Bieber concert.

2. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005) $291.7 million – So Aslan being a metaphor for God here, there’s no surprise that Liam Neeson’s deep gravelly voice was a perfect fit. Based on C. S. Lewis’ famous children novel, the movie became a massive success for Disney but none of the sequels that followed managed to recreate the same magic or box office numbers. It’s a great family movie, a must have in any DVD or Blu-ray collection.

1. Star Wars: Episode 1 – The Phantom Menace (1999) $431 million – The film Star Wars fans love to hate. I was 12 when I saw this in theaters and at the time I can say that I enjoyed myself, it was a good time at the movies. Today I can see why some hate The Phantom Menace so much (Jar Jar, you devil you) but I personally still can’t join their ranks. I can’t help myself, it might not be a great movie but it’s certainly not a bad one either, for me at least.

Finally a movie that didn’t make this top 10 but certainly would make my personal one, Kingdom of Heaven. A great movie even thought Liam Neeson had a rather short part. Then there’s also Love Actually, great date movie, definitely one his best. Also he was rather badass in Sam Raimi’s Darkman way back in 1990. So what’s your favorite Liam Neeson film?

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Seeing as it’s a pretty slow news week in film, I decided to subject you to one of the many lists I like to make at the end of the year. Putting together a ‘top list’ in any genre is no easy task, but putting together a list of this year’s Most Abominable Movies has proven to be downright blackboard-chalk-screeching painful.

Here’s my problem: I try not to knowingly subject myself to sucky movies. I’m not really the type who goes out and sees every movie with no idea that the thing is going to suck the big one. No, like any reasonably intelligent person who doesn’t live under a rock, I can usually tell if something is going to please me greatly (or even a little). So yeah, I’m a film snob. And no, I don’t think it’s cool to purposely sour my taste buds by offering up the latest Katherine Heigl or Tyler Perry crap-fest.

So, admittedly I had a little trouble choosing my biggest piles of film poo. Unfortunately, I could only muster up a total of 5 films worthy of shoving that $10 ticket up my derriere. Here they are–in all their glory (and in no particular order). And please, feel free to point out how obviously off base I am. But be prepared to support your argument with evidence!

1. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Despite the obvious problems with this film (Jerry Bruckheimer), I think my biggest peeve was the fact that poor Jake had to LEARN how to speak in a British accent to match the rest of the cast. He-LLO! This is freaking Persia. It’s Iran–not the freaking Union Jack! And seriously–Jake is just too pretty for Prince Dastan. Who’s going to mess with a face like that?

2. The Last Airbender
Oh boy. Glee glee glee at how craptacular this most recent Shyamalan disaster turned out. I must channel my inner Roger Ebert here and repeat: “The Last Airbender is an agonizing experience in every category I can think of and others still waiting to be invented. The laws of chance suggest that something should have gone right. Not here. It puts a nail in the coffin of low-rent 3D, but it will need a lot more coffins than that.”

Yes. Coffins indeed. Noah Ringer as Aang and his two comrades wander aimlessly through the murky and bland set, speak their lines with all the commitment and fervor of an empty wooden box, and battle CGI monsters with all the bravery of white belt karate students with ballet training. And here’s a note to Asian-American actors upset that the film used Caucasians to represent: Please, be thankful you didn’t get to participate. Missing an opportunity like this is akin to missing that famed Oceanic flight 815.

3. Dinner for Schmucks
I’m fully prepared to take a lot of grief for this one. First of all, I know you’re asking, “how can a movie where Steve Carrell makes tiny dioramas out of dead mice and Paul Rudd gets to be the straight man be awful?” And second of all, I am in no way an Armond White supporter. But really, the guy sums Schmucks up wholeheartedly for me: “Actors are paid to be embarrassing, and audiences pay to get embarrassed. That’s the lesson to learn from Dinner for Schmucks, an idiot-comedy for idiots.”

4. Grown Ups
I didn’t laugh once during this entire film. No, I don’t think it’s funny that Sandler is fully aware of the fact that he’s stealing my $10 so I can watch him and his buddies pee in a pool, fart and hump things. I think movie humor sort of requires that the comedians in said movie not snicker openly at the jokes of fellow comedians in said movie as if to cue me for laughter. It also helps not to pigeon-hole each “actor” with one funny running attribute throughout the entire length of the film. Is Kevin James chubby enough to be made the butt of an endless supply of fat jokes? Yes.

I was, however, held down and forced to watch this film twice over the holiday season with the soul mate’s nephew and nieces (ages 12, 8, and 7). These three found the movie quite  hilarious and couldn’t get enough of it. So, that said, raunchy comedians making a kids film = FAIL.

5. Clash of the Titans
I saw this cluster-f*&k in 3D (first bad choice), and my dreams of Release the Kraken glory turned into Release the Craptastic disappointment. This film was one of those classic examples of hurriedly tacking on post-prod 3D in order to greedily take advantage of the current 3D-mania in theatres. Distracting and annoying instead of enhancing the story, this mess had all the key ingredients of a really bad film: sloppy and stilted dialogue, over-the-top acting, bad editing. I should have just listened to my gut and let Harry Hamlin live in infamy. Yes, this regret will haunt me forever. And, the homage to Bubo the owl was really kind of lame and seemed like it was just thrown in there haphazardly.

Do you have 5 more Most Abominable films you’ve seen this year I could add to my list?

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The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today released their short list of 15 films currently in contention for Best Achievement in Visual Effects for the 83rd Academy Awards. As usual, the list is a mix of critical darlings, box office failures, comic book movies, sequels and originals.

Here are the 15 films in alphabetical order:

• Alice in Wonderland
• The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
• Clash of the Titans
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
• Hereafter
• Inception
• Iron Man 2
• The Last Airbender
• Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief
• Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
• Scott Pilgrim vs the World
• Shutter Island
• The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
• TRON: Legacy
• Unstoppable

Members of the Academy’s Visual Effects Branch Executive Committee will narrow the list down to seven in early January, prior to the announcement of the Oscar nominations on Tuesday, January 25, 2011.

Which select few do you think will make it through to the final 3? Last year it was a battle between Avatar, Star Trek and District 9, with Avatar obviously taking the gold.

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This time last year Sam Worthington had just appeared in Terminator Salvation and he was going to be ‘that guy’ in James Cameron’s Avatar. Now the actor is pretty much known by everyone, has two franchises under his belt, and has started his own production company so he can start making his own films. An above-average year I’d say.

Worthington recently took part in a press conference and spoke about the sequels to both Clash of the Titans and Avatar. He acknowledged some of the failures of Titans, namely the rushed 3D conversion, and talks about what he would like to see in the next one which begins filming next year.

From Coming Soon:

“[It} will be 3D this time," said Worthington, making it clear that he himself wasn't happy with the post-conversion process of the first film, "Shot in 3D. Do put that in and make them f--king aware... When I read Clash 2, they came to me the other day. I said, 'I kinda dig where it's going, but can we make the character more of this? Can we make it more of that? Can I get to play a lot more and get involved and have a lot more f--king fun than just being a young man who has to stand there and look pretty?' I'm sick of doing that, so it's kind of a case of, 'How do we make Perseus a lot more fun?' So we're sort of shaping it down that track. And Warner Bros. has been nice enough to give us a bit on input."

"The movies always change. It suddenly became a rolling, runaway train in some parts. In regards to the conversion, I'm a Jim Cameron boy, so people know my opinions."

Worthington has said in the past that he reads stuff online, so he will be more than aware of the criticisms of the first film. It's actually pretty cool that he has taken it on-board and wants to improve for the next outing.

Now onto Avatar. Earlier this week it was announced that the film will be re-released in August with 8 minutes of new footage. Worthington spoke about what that new footage may include, and gave a small update on Avatar 2.

"I wish we added eight hours. I think the first cut I saw was about six hours long... There's a couple of extra hunting scenes. There's a much-speculated and blogged sex scene everyone keeps f--king harping on about. To be honest, I think everyone's going to be disappointed that's it's not blue porn... But there's a lot of other character parts. Giovanni [Ribisi] stuff and Stephen Lang stuff. So it’s up to Jim. I know Jim would only release it if it enhanced the story by putting it back in.”

“Avatar 2 will be whenever Jim decides to write it. I think he’s in Thailand at the moment or trying to save the Gulf. But I’m sure he’s going to put pen to paper soon.”

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Warner Bros will be releasing Clash of the Titans (without a quickie 3D conversion) on Blu-ray and DVD on July 27th. The Blu-ray version (and possibly DVD, too) will contain the usual behind the scenes extras, however it is thought that it will also contain a sneak peek of Green Lantern.

Check out the artwork and specs below:

Warner Home Video has officially announced and detailed the 2010 version of Clash of the Titans, which is set for release on a Blu-ray/DVD/Digital Copy combo pack on July 27. The Blu-ray will exclusively feature an alternate ending, plus Warner’s Maximum Movie Mode. A Blu-ray 3D version has not been announced at the time.

Special features include:

- Maximum Movie Mode with Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes and director Louis Leterrier: includes enhanced scene breakdowns, enhanced VFX breakdowns, on-the-spot vignettes, close-up views of the Kraken, the Scorpiochs, Medusa, stuntwork, filming locales and more.
- Sam Worthington – an Action Hero for the Ages: a dedicated actor morphs into a lean fighting machine for a mythic movie
- Alternate ending: Perseus confronts Zeus on Mount Olympus
- Deleted Scenes

The first footage from Green Lantern is expected to debut a few days before Clash of the Titans arrives on Blu-ray at the San Diego Comic-Con, but Warner Bros. are using it as an incentive for people to buy Titans on Blu-ray. (I suppose we could just wait for the inevitable YouTube version).

You can pre-order Clash of the Titans via these links:

DVD | Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy

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128.1 million was the final number for the opening weekend of Iron Man 2 in North America (I was pretty close on Friday but I was hoping it would do better). Add to that $195.3 million from around the world, 9.3 million on Monday and we have already $332.8 million worldwide in just a few days.

Unfortunately this was probably on the low end of expectations for most but it’s still enough to be the 5th highest opening weekend ever:

1. The Dark Knight (2008) $158,411,483
2. Spider-Man 3 (2007) $151,116,516
3. Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009) $142,839,132
4. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (2006) $135,634,554
5. Iron Man 2 (2010) $128,112,480

This is already the second movie this year that makes it into the top 10 opening weekends ever, a few months ago it was Alice in Wonderland in 6th place (now 7th) with $116.1 million, a movie that so far has grossed over $960 million worldwide in little over 2 months. Wizard of Oz, you are next in line!

The majority of people seem to like this movie (7.6 on IMDB) so it will probably have a nice run at the box office from now on, without major drops (hopefully) but I’m doubt it can reach $400 million in North America anymore.

A Nightmare on Elm Street performed as expected, 72.3% from last weekend for $9.1 million, $48.4 million in total and already a planned sequel. This should finish around $60 million in North America and probably little over $100 worldwide.

How to Train Your Dragon continues the impressive run that convinced DreamWorks to give the go on the sequel. $6.6 million after 7 weeks, $201 million in NA and $409.1 million worldwide.

After a modest $43.7 million opening (for such an expensive movie) this shows that quality can go a long way in turning something into a hit.

Date Night continues to do solid business in 4th place with $5.4 million and $81 million in total.

The Back-Up Plan turned out better then I was expecting and is now at $30.1 million in total after $5 million this weekend for CBS in 5th place.

Clash of the Titans still holds on in 7th place with $2.5 million now, $158 million in NA and $453.3 million worldwide. Oh and guess what, another Clash of the Titans should hit us in about 2 years because of all that money made by this one.

The full top 10 is as follows:

1. Iron Man 2 (Par) $128.1 million (NEW)
2. A Nightmare on Elm Street (WB) $9.1 million ($48.7M)
3. How to Train Your Dragon (P/DW) $6.6 million ($201M)
4. Date Night (Fox) $5.4 million ($81M)
5. The Back-Up Plan (CBS) $5 million ($30.1M)
6. Furry Vengeance (Sum) $4.4 million ($12.1M)
7. Clash of the Titans (WB) $2.5 million ($158M)
8. Death at a Funeral (SGem) $2.3 million ($38.5M)
9. Babies (Focus) $2.1 million (NEW)
10. The Losers (WB) $1.8 million ($21.4M)

Robin Hood visits the box office next weekend, will it give Iron Man 2 a run for first place?

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The Clash of the Titans franchise has officially been born. According to Deadline Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures are moving ahead with a sequel to Clash of the Titans, and we could be seeing it as early as spring 2012. Sam Worthington and all the main survivors from the last outing will be back, and they are aiming to begin shoot before Worthington has to start work on Avatar 2 (whenever that will be).

One man who won’t be returning, however, is director Louis Leterrier.

From Deadline:

But they will make the journey without Louis Leterrier, who will not return for an encore as director.

Greg Berlanti will write the story and the studio is already canvassing the agencies for a writer and director who can whip the movie into shape to shoot before Worthington makes Avatar 2. Leterrier will remain peripherally involved as executive producer. It isn’t unheard of for the original director of a big hit film to drop off the sequel–Doug Liman on The Bourne Identity comes to mind–and insiders swear that the Leterrier move was harmonious and are saying he wasn’t of a mind to rush into another installment of Greek mythological mayhem.

While the insiders say it was harmonious, I don’t think Warner Bros. wanted Leterrier to direct the sequel. When Leterrier pitched the idea of Clash of the Titans to them in 2008 he envisioned it as a new franchise, and during the promotional rounds he mentioned he already had ideas for the second film. His effort may have earned $388 million worldwide, but the reviews have been less than spectacular (30% on Rotten Tomatoes), and it may have been the negative response to the film which caused Warner Bros. to seek another director.

What did you think of Clash of the Titans? Do you want to see a sequel?

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Date Night almost made it to number 1 (Sunday estimates had it first with 0.2 million more than Clash of the Titans) but in the end it was a repeat in first place for this remake of the 1980′s classic Perseus story.

Clash of the Titans managed a decent 56.5% drop among similar movies in the past with $26.6 million (300 had a 53.6% drop and $129.1 million after 10 days compared to $110.2 million for Clash). I did see the movie over the weekend and I got exactly what I was expecting out of it, some people didn’t so word-of-mouth (what you hear from other people about the film) is not that great for Clash of the Titans but I can still see it finishing around $160 million in North America, good for the $125 million budget when we take into account the worldwide box office that should lead to at least $350 million before the movie leaves theaters.

On the other hand I don’t think Fox are too happy about Date Night, only a $25.2 million debut for a movie that (according to some) was tracking higher and cost the studio $55 million (higher than it should for this type of movie). I don’t know if this can make back money for Fox at the box office, they will probably have to wait for the DVD release to get some of that green paper back.

How to Train Your Dragon is showing exactly the kind of box office legs I was talking about in my past reports, the kind that show people have embraced what is (for me at least) the best animated movie that has come from DreamWorks Animation so far (and this coming from a Shrek 1/2 and Kung Fu Panda fan). Dragon will give Pixar a run for their money next year at the Oscars with this gem. Anyway, back to the box office, only a 14.3% drop from last weekend and $133.4 million so far. With Shrek 4 still far away (so no competition) I’m pretty sure How to Train Your Dragon is headed to the $200 million club and hopefully will get a sequel based on the second book in the series (How to Be a Pirate).

Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married Too? is exactly as expected, 62.4% drop, $11 million, $48.5 total on a 20 million budget. Tyler Perry is the man when it comes to making profitable movies, enough said.

The Last Song is surprisingly strong yet again in 5th place with $9.8 million and $42.2 million total. Will finish high among Nicholas Sparks adaptations. Nice box office teethes you got there Miley Cyrus.

Hot Tub Time Machine and Alice in Wonderland are in 6th and 7th place dropping slowly. Alice now stands at $319 million in the US and more then $780 million worldwide, damn, with Prince of Persia, Toy Story 3 and Tron Legacy all coming out this year, Disney is sure to have one of the best years ever at the box office.

The Bounty Hunter and Diary of a Wimpy Kid just can’t stand away from each other for a 4th consecutive weekend (Wimpy was above Hunter only once, opening weekend) and both look like good hits for their studios, $55.9 million for The Bounty Hunter and $53.6 million for Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

And finally Letters to God debuting in 897 theaters reached the 10th spot with $1.1 million.

Next week we have Death at a Funeral and Kick Ass, but mostly Kick Ass. Not hard to guess who will Kick Ass at the box office next weekend.

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Clash of the Titans debuts to a solid $61.2 million sporting the highest Easter opening ever as well as helping this weekend become number one when it comes to Easter holidays.

Maybe it wasn’t as much as Warner might have hopped with the last minute added 3D fluff (that people say is horrible) and a budget between $125 and $150 million not counting marketing, but none the less, $61.2 million is a good debut if we overlook the fact that in 2007, a movie called 300 (and the reason Clash got a green light from the studio) managed to open with over $70 million without 3D and on a tighter budget. Clash of the Titans is the kind of movie that tends to be very frontloaded so I expect a beefy drop next weekend for what could lead to a total of $140-$160 million in North America.

Tyler Perry shows yet again that he has box office success in the blood with his latest, Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married Too? opening to $29.2 million on a $20 million budget no less. There’s a lot of money to be made with the Tyler Perry brand and I’m wondering why there aren’t other studios (except Lionsgate) jumping on this opportunity.

How to Train Your Dragon managed a decent 33.7% drop for a $29 million second weekend that brings this movie to a total of $92.1 million, still well behind last year’s Monsters vs Aliens at the same point in time ($104.7 million in 10 days). Monday numbers, $5.2 million (affected by Easter but still), show that Dragon might have good to very good legs at the box office in the following weeks so I’m hoping that it makes enough for DreamWorks to green light a sequel. This is one movie that deserves a franchise.

The Last Song, another Nicholas Sparks novel adapted for the big screen, made $16 million over the weekend and another $9.3 million on Wednesday and Thursday for a 5-day total of $25.3 million. Not on the same level as Dear John just two months ago, but still a very strong debut that has Disney star Miley Cyrus finally stepping out of the Hannah Montana shoes to flex her muscles at the box office.

And finally in 5th place we have Alice in Wonderland, $8.2 million after loosing most of the 3D screens it had left. With $309.7 million in North America and close to $700 million worldwide, this is a massive hit for Disney. We had Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and now Alice in Wonderland, what’s next, I’m betting on Wizard of Oz?

Here’s the rest of the top 10:

1. Clash of the Titans (WB) $61.2M ($63.8M)
2. Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married Too? (LGF) $29.2M (NEW)
3. How to Train Your Dragon (P/DW) $29M ($92.1M)
4. The Last Song (BV) $16M ($25.3M)
5. Alice in Wonderland (BV) $8.2M ($309.7M)
6. Hot Tub Time Machine (MGM) $8M ($27.9M)
7. The Bounty Hunter (Sony) $6M ($48.8M)
8. Diary of a Wimpy Kid (Fox) $5.3M ($46M)
9. She’s Out of My League (Par) $1.5M ($28.7M)
10. Shutter Island (Par) $1.4M ($123.4M)

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Yahoo! has posted a second behind the scenes featurette for Louis Leterrier’s Clash of the Titans. The focus on this one seems to be on how much of a cool action epic the film will be, with comments on the special effects, stunts and action from Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Sam Worthington and Gemma Arterton. We also see a few shots of filming, along with the usual footage we’ve seen from the trailers.

Clash of the Titans stars Sam Worthington as Perseus, a man born of a god and raised as a man who is helpless to save his family from Hades (Ralph Fiennes), vengeful god of the underworld. With nothing left to lose, Perseus volunteers to lead a dangerous mission to defeat Hades before he can seize power from Zeus (Liam Neeson) and unleash hell on earth.

Titans will be unleashed on April 2nd.

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