The Marksman: Liam Neeson takes aim at the weekend box office

Neeson is back in action

Not even the coronavirus can prevent Liam Neeson from grabbing a gun and getting into action, putting his latest movie THE MARKSMAN on top at the weekend box office with an estimated opening of $3.2 million.

Nesson's second pandemic release after last October's crime-drama HONEST THIEF (both distributed by Open Road) is expected to earn $3.7 million over the four-day Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend.

HONEST THIEF started out with $3.6 million for its first weekend, but had more screens available at the time (2,400 versus THE MARKSMAN's 1,975 screens). Around 60% of theaters in North America are currently closed.

The new PG-13 movie (not to be confused with the 1953 Western or the 2005 Wesley Snipes direct-to-video movie of the same name) finds Neeson as an ex-Marine protecting a Mexican woman and her son from the cartel. The action-thriller, also starring Katheryn Winnick of "Vikings", is the second feature directed by Clint Eastwood's longtime producing partner Robert Lorenz (TROUBLE WITH THE CURVE).

Most critics thought Neeson was shooting blanks this time around, giving the movie a 33% average on Rotten Tomatoes and a score of 43 on Metacritic. Set your sights on the JoBlo review HERE.

Moving to second place was the PG-13 DC Comics superhero sequel WONDER WOMAN 1984 with $2.6 million over its fourth weekend in theaters.

Director Patty Jenkins' second adventure with star Gal Gadot has a domestic total of $35.8 million since its Christmas Day release, and a worldwide total of $141.7 million.

The $200 million Warner Bros. movie will also be available for subscribers of HBO Max until January 24. The movie has been one of the most-viewed options on streaming platforms since its release, competing with Pixar's SOUL over on Disney+.

In third place was the PG-rated animated sequel THE CROODS: A NEW AGE with $2.04 million on its eighth weekend in theaters, bringing it to a domestic total of $39.2 million and $134 million worldwide. Universal's $65 million DreamWorks movie also remains one of the biggest movies on VOD (along with Christopher Nolan's TENET and the Gerard Butler apocalypse thriller GREENLAND).

The Tom Hanks Western NEWS OF THE WORLD was in fourth place with $1.05 million. The PG-13 drama from director Paul Greengrass has a domestic total of $8.5 million after four weekends.

In fifth place was director Paul W.S. Anderson's PG-13 videogame adaptation MONSTER HUNTER with $920,000 on its fifth weekend for a domestic total of $9.03 million and $19.6 million worldwide (on a $60 million budget).

The Hilary Swank/Michael Ealy thriller FATALE was in sixth place with $530,000. After five weekends, the R-rated Lionsgate release from director Deon Taylor (TRAFFIK, THE INTRUDER) has a domestic total of $4.7 million.

In seventh place was the Carey Mulligan revenge comedy PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN with $430,000, bringing the R-rated release to a domestic total of $3.3 million.

The Indian thriller MASTER was in eighth place with $206,000 (on just 130 screens), while this week's random catalog title is Disney's THE EMPEROR'S NEW GROOVE in ninth place with a reissue in 744 locations.

Featuring the voices of David Spade, John Goodman, Patrick Warburton and Eartha Kitt, the animated comedy (which has been deemed meme-worthy in recent years by the internet) has a running unadjusted domestic total of $89.4 million since its original release back in 2000.

Hanging around at the bottom of the chart is the Robert De Niro family comedy THE WAR WITH GRANDPA, celebrating 15 continuous weekends in the Top 10 (more than James Cameron's AVATAR!) with a domestic total of $19.2 million and $33.4 million worldwide.

Unless anything changes in the next couple of weeks (and these days, who can say), the next big theatrical release will be the Denzel Washington serial-killer thriller THE LITTLE THINGS on January 29.

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