Weekend Box Office:

1) Taken $24.6 million
2) Paul Blart: Mall Cop $14 million
3) The Uninvited $10.5 million
4) Hotel for Dogs $8.7 million
5) Gran Torino $8.6 million
6) Slumdog Millionaire $7.6 million
7) Underworld 3: The Rise of The Lycans $7.2 million
8) New in Town $6.7 million
9) My Bloody Valentine 3-D $4.2 million
10) Inkheart $3.7 million

Kevin James' Paul Blart: Mall Cop has finally relinquished his choke hold on the American box office, graciously stepping down to the number two spot with $14 million in its third weekend, so that Liam Neeson's kidnapping thriller Taken could reign supreme. Despite little fanfare, this Luc Besson production managed to climb above the rest, nabbing a decent $24.6 million on this Super Bowl weekend. Don't feel too sorry for Blart, though. So far, James' security guard comedy has racked in $83.3 million and will likely top out at over $100 million in the next few weeks.

Two other brand new films failed to attract much traffic at this weekend's box office. Dreamworks' ghost thriller The Uninvited pulled in all of the tween girls to the tune of $10.5 million, which dropped the spooky drama into the number three spot. And the Renee Zellweger comedy New in Town took a nosedive right out of the gate, skidding into the number eight spot with a measly $6.7 million.

In a surprising move, the film with the highest per screen average was the one-night stand comedy Medicine for Melancholy. Having seemingly come out of nowhere, this Barry Jenkins directed project nabbed $14,700 playing on just one screen. If it had of been given the 3,183 screens held by top spot earner Taken, this racially themed look at romance would have garnered $46.7 million, making it the number one film of the weekend.

Next weekend is anybody's guess as a whole spat of new films will open in direct competition of each other. We have Henry Selick's stop-motion fantasy Coraline, the long awaited Star Wars comedy Fanboys, Steve Martin's sequel The Pink Panther 2, the romantic comedy He's Just Not That Into You, and the super hero flick Push.

Taken was released January 30th, 2009 and stars Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Leland Orser, Jon Gries, David Warshofsky, Holly Valance, Katie Cassidy, Xander Berkeley. The film is directed by Pierre Morel.

Paul Blart: Mall Cop was released January 16th, 2009 and stars Kevin James, Keir O'Donnell, Jayma Mays, Raini Rodriguez, Shirley Knight, Stephen Rannazzisi, Peter Gerety, Bobby Cannavale. The film is directed by Steve Carr.

The Uninvited was released January 30th, 2009 and stars Emily Browning, Arielle Kebbel, David Strathairn, Elizabeth Banks, Maya Massar, Kevin McNulty, Jesse Moss, Dean Paul Gibson. The film is directed by Charles Guard, Thomas Guard.

Gran Torino was released December 12th, 2008 and stars Clint Eastwood, Christopher Carley, Bee Vang, Ahney Her, Brian Haley, Geraldine Hughes, Dreama Walker, Brian Howe. The film is directed by Clint Eastwood.

New in Town was released January 30th, 2009 and stars Renée Zellweger, Harry Connick Jr., Siobhan Fallon, J.K. Simmons, Mike O'Brien, Frances Conroy, Ferron Guerreiro, Barbara James Smith. The film is directed by Jonas Elmer.

My Bloody Valentine 3D was released January 16th, 2009 and stars Jensen Ackles, Jaime King, Kerr Smith, Betsy Rue, Edi Gathegi, Tom Atkins, Kevin Tighe, Megan Boone. The film is directed by Patrick Lussier.

Medicine for Melancholy was released February 6th, 2009 and stars Wyatt Cenac, Tracey Heggins, Elizabeth Acker, Melissa Bisagni, DeMorge Brown, Powell DeGrange, Chida Emeka, John Friedberg. The film is directed by Barry Jenkins.