Swarthy international sex slavers know you shouldn’t mess with Liam Neeson’s Bryan Mills, and now the US box office has learned that lesson, as Taken 2 punched out the competition. The action thriller overcame some toxic word of mouth to earn an impressive $50 million, launching it at the top of the charts.

The Taken sequel’s success meant Hotel Transylvania was down to second place, earning $26.3 million. Singing comedy Pitch Perfect expanded its screen count and jumped up the charts from sixth to third with $14.7 million this week, while Looper dropped a couple of places to fourth and $12.2 million.

But Tim Burton’s latest stop-motion outing, Frankenweenie seemingly struggled to electrify audiences despite a wealth of positive reviews. The revived dog horror comedy could only muster $11.5 million in fifth despite showing on 3,005 screens.

Sixth was End Of Watch, which made $4 million, ahead of
Trouble With The Curve in seventh, taking $3.8 million. Eighth place went to House At The End Of The Street, which earned $3.6 million, while The Master stayed at ninth with $1.8 million. Finally, Finding Nemo’s 3D re-release earned $1.5 million, bringing its total to $38.9 million.

To find the chart placings by chucking grenades in the middle of a busy city, head to Box Office Mojo.