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Bruce Hall: Here are the facts:

A wildly implausible film written by Luc Besson and starring a well respected but possibly past his prime 62-year-old leading man opens in early January.

Based on that scenario alone, and armed with no other information, it would be natural for me to assume the film in question made $11 million and would be more or less gone from theaters by the time you left work Monday afternoon.

So when you pull the blindfold from my eyes and tell me you're talking about Taken 3, and that it opened to almost $40 million, and that apparently, Liam Neeson could still kick my ass, what would I say?

I would say that this is an outstanding result, and no amount of nitpicking can spin it otherwise. Sure, it could have opened against more robust competition - but it didn't. A dollar is a dollar, and Neeson appears to be at the point in his career that most actors dream of, where he can pretty much do whatever the hell he wants to.

I can't say much for the movie, but I've got no problem giving Fox the win.

Michael Lynderey: Six years ago it would have been exceptional and shocking in many ways. Nowadays, it seems like yet another (in the long line of) success stories for Liam Neeson, who is unquestionably a leading man and a surefire draw. Just like The Maze Runner, The Equalizer, and all the rest, Taken 3 is going to be in a predictably tight race for $100 million, and the film will, most probably, just, just, just barely drag its tired and unwilling carcass over that mark (anyone want to start a pool as to when? I say March 15th). Even that would be a franchise worst here, but diminishing returns are expected, and for a film just marking time between Neeson action films, it's still a strong number. The ship is sailing ahead as sturdy as ever.

Edwin Davies: I'll echo the chorus of people saying that this is a great result, considering how bad Taken 2 was, the January doldrums and the exceptionally middling result for A Walk Among the Tombstones, which suggested that people might be beginning to tire of Neeson as an action hero. Obviously the strength of the brand and the way the film was billed as the final installment overwhelmed most of their problems - though not completely, considering that it still opened to less than Taken 2 and will probably not come close to matching the final tallies of the first two films, at least domestically. This will be another wildly successful film for Besson and Neeson, and even if it does earn considerably less than its predecessors, that'll just be confirmation that they're getting out at the right time.

Kim Hollis: Even if there's a slight bit of opening weekend slippage from Taken 2, the newest film's debut weekend is a huge win for the studio, Besson and Neeson himself. Clearly, people still want to see a man with a very particular set of skills kicking Eastern European ass. I don't think the release date was ever going to be a hindrance to it, but there was a chance that the perceived decline in quality from Taken to Taken 2 could damage the third film. No, it's not a novel idea anymore, but it's a surefire way to make money for the studio. Now that the franchise is done (for real, I would hope), it would be nice to see him in some more serious, non-action type stuff. Alas, other than Ted 2, it looks like we've got a couple more of these films to go before he stars in a Martin Scorsese film.

David Mumpower: The signature identification that a franchise has made an impact is when it gets derivative clones. We've seen actors such as Kevin Costner, Russell Crowe and Pierce Brosnan all try to pull a Neeson. While I agree that the chilly reception of the last film was problematic, even worse versions from people like Costner and Brosnan nicely remind me of the original. It's something that helped Live Free Or Die Hard reboot, and it's not proven to be a boost for I Know What You Did Last Taken. I will add that the decision to give away a key plot point in the trailer enhanced the demand. That was clever.

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