Box Office: <em>Taken 2</em> Grabs $50M Debut

Sequel Taken 2 dominated the North American box office this weekend with a record-breaking $50 million debut, more than double the original 2009 film. The action feature from 20th Century Fox and EuropaCorp also did well overseas, grossing $55 million for a worldwide opening of $105 million.

Sony holdover Hotel Transylvania remained strong in its second weekend, grossing $26.3 million for a domestic total of $76 million. The 3D animated feature, directed by Genndy Tartakovsky, grossed $13.1 million overseas, bringing the film's worldwide total to $105.3 million.

Universal musical comedy Pitch Perfect placed a solid number three at the domestic box office this weekend, earning $14.7 million as it expanded nationwide for a domestic total of $21.6million.

Looper, released by Sony's TriStar label in tandem with FilmDistrict and Endgame Entertainment, came in fourth place on its second weekend out, earning $12.2 million for a 10-day total of $40.3 million.

The news wasn't so good for Tim Burton’s 3D black-and-white, stop-motion-animated Frankenweenie, which only managed a fifth-place opening with $11.5 million. Disney, which produced the film for $39 million, believes word-of-mouth will be strong heading into the Halloween stretch, resulting in a steady flow of moviegoers. Frankenweenie did solid business in IMAX theaters, which accounted for $1.3 million in business domestically. The film begins rolling out overseas next weekend.

Open Road Films’ End of Watch came in sixth place, bringing in $4 million on its third weekend out for a total of $32.8 million.

In seventh place, Clint Eastwood's baseball drama, Trouble with the Curve, made $3.9 million for a total of $29.7 million.

Relativity Media’s horror film House at the End of the Street came in eighth place, earning $3.7 million for a total of $27.5 million.

Holding at ninth place, Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master brought in $1.8 million for a total of $12.3 million.

Rounding out the list at number 10, the 3D release of Pixar’s Finding Nemo brought Disney $1.5 million for a total of $39.9 million.

Box office numbers were obtained on boxofficemojo.com [1].