Neeson, Gnomeo neck and neck

— Liam Neeson has proved himself a known quantity again at the box office.

Neeson’s thriller, Unknown, debuted as the No. 1 movie with $25.5 million, following in the footsteps of his 2009 action hit Taken, according to studio estimates. Disney’s animated comedy, Gnomeo & Juliet, was a close second with $25.4 million over the 4-day Washington’s Birthday weekend. Gnomeo & Juliet raised its total to $56.4 million.

Another action tale, I Am Number Four, opened at No. 3 with $22.3 million.

A Warner Bros. release, Unknown stars Neeson as a botanist who awakens from a coma to find his wife claims she does not know him and that another man has taken his identity.

DreamWorks’ I Am Number Four stars Alex Pettyfer as a teenage alien refugee on Earth who develops superpowers to battle the evil invaders that destroyed his planet. It was the first Dream-Works movie released under the distribution deal with Disney.

While I Am Number Four held youth appeal, Unknown was a rare No. 1 film that did most of its business among older crowds. According to Warner Bros., 54 percent of the movie’s audience was 50 and over and 89 percent was 25 and over.

Adam Sandler’s Cactus Flower remake Just Go With It, which had been No. 1 the previous weekend, fell to fourth place with $21.6 million.

The weekend’s other new wide release, Martin Lawrence’s comedy, Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son, was No. 5 with $18.7 million. The 20th Century Fox sequel has Lawrence reprising his role as a federal agent who goes undercover as a hefty woman.

Hollywood broke a long downturn in business during which revenues were off 14 straight weekends compared with the previous year’s, though it was not an applesto-apples comparison.

Last weekend, receipts totaled $144 million, up 7.7 percent compared with the same period last year, according to box-office tracker Hollywood.com. But compared to the Washington’s Birthday weekend in 2010, which fell a week earlier, revenues this time were down 30 percent.

“This was certainly not a record Washington’s Birthday weekend by any stretch, but it was a good weekend,” said Hollywood.com analyst Paul Dergarabedian. It was solid but not spectacular, but at least it broke the down streak.

Two top contenders at Sunday’s Academy Awards hit the $100 million mark.

The Weinstein Co. drama The King’s Speech, the best-picture front-runner, pulled in $8 million to lift its total to $105 million. Fox Searchlight’s psychosexual thriller, Black Swan, took in $1.6 million and raised its haul to $102 million.

Colin Firth of The King’s Speech and Natalie Portman of Black Swan are considered the favorites for the lead-acting Oscar awards.

BOX OFFICEThe top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by Hollywood.com are: 1. Unknown, Warner Bros., $25,453,015, 3,043 locations, $8,364 average, $25,453,015, one week.

2. Gnomeo and Juliet, Disney, $25,415,717, 3,014 locations, $8,433 average, $56,436,249, two weeks.

3. I Am Number Four, Disney, $22,755,854, 3,154 locations, $7,215 average, $22,755,854, one week.

4. Just Go With It, Columbia, $21,581,024, 3,548 locations, $6,083 average, $64,136,988, two weeks.

5. Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son, 20th Century Fox, $18,735,026, 2,821 locations, $6,641 average, $18,735,026, one week.

6. Justin Bieber: Never Say Never, Paramount, $16,364,188, 3,118 locations, $5,248 average, $51,236,937, two weeks.

7. The King’s Speech, Weinstein Co .,$8,063,897, 2,086 locations, $3,866 average, $104,775,873, 13 weeks.

8. The Roommate, Columbia Screen Gems, $4,468,309, 2,160 locations, $2,069 average, $33,061,873, three weeks.

9. The Eagle, Focus, $4,333,044, 2,296 locations, $1,887 average, $15,840,242, twoweeks.

10. No Strings Attached, Paramount, $3,576,797, 1,966 locations, $1,819 average, $66,490,084, five weeks.

11. True Grit, Paramount, $2,885,736, 1,465 locations, $1,970 average, $164,603,239, nine weeks.

12. Sanctum, Universal, $1,968,990, 1,377 locations, $1,430 average, $22,277,775, three weeks.

13. The Green Hornet, Columbia, $1,938,216, 1,265 locations, $1,532 average, $95,600,502, six weeks.

14. The Fighter, Paramount, $1,910,835, 759 locations, $2,518 average, $88,322,333, 11 weeks.

15. Black Swan, Fox Searchlight, $1,608,916, 656 locations, $2,453 average, $101,817,991, 12 weeks.

16. The Rite, Warner Bros., $1,312,299, 1,048 locations, $1,252 average, $31,574,684, four weeks.

17. The Mechanic, CBS Films, $1,194,515, 952 locations, $1,255 average, $28,077,208, four weeks.

18. Cedar Rapids, Fox Searchlight, $1,089,297, 102 locations, $10,679 average, $1,490,775, two weeks.

19. Barney’s Version, Columbia Pictures Classics, $884,317, 322 locations, $2,746 average, $4,602,754, six weeks.

20. Tangled, Disney, $743,090, 389 locations, $1,910 average, $194,306,677, 13 weeks.

MovieStyle, Pages 34 on 02/25/2011

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