First there was Paul Blart, and then there was Taken. It was only January 2009, and we had two major – and surprise – hits on our hands. I remember when I first watched the movie preview for Taken, the Liam Neeson-starring thriller that looks and feels a lot like a B-grade version of The Bourne Identity. The movie looked cool – I was interested in seeing it – but my initial reaction was that no one else would, the studio would give it little promotion and it would open to around $8 million and fade into obscurity shortly thereafter. (more…)