Since the unexpected smash hit Taken utterly transformed the career of the now 62-year-old actor Liam Neeson, and turned him into a reliably bankable action hero at a rather late stage in the game (given the age of most action stars), and the less well received, but undeniably successful, sequel Taken 2 made $376 million at the Box Office from a mere $45 million budget, it should be no surprise to learn EuropaCorp have recruited Liam Neeson for a third Taken movie, and that you can now see the first images from Taken 3 below.
Maggie Grace will once again return as Kim Mills (daughter of Neeson’s ex-CIA character Bryan Mills), in the film which will follow a slightly different format than the two previous movies according to Neeson, who recently said “this time, no more travelling. If my daughter was ‘taken’ again on a trip, Bryan Mills would have to be certifiably locked up for bad parenting.”
Instead, following being falsely accused of murder, Neeson has said the plot will see his character having “to go on the run, I’ll put it that way, from the not-so-lawful types and the lawful authorities. Bryan Mills served his country faithfully, but now even they are after him. They must not like me.” Adding that while he has returned for a third movie, there’s a chance it could be his last Taken feature; “If I feel audiences saying, ‘Come on, he’s 62, enough is enough,’ I’m very sensitive to that and if I pick up that vibe it will all stop. And I’ll start playing dads or grandfathers. But I keep myself pretty fit and my knees are still great. And it’s fun.”
Once more written by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen, and again directed by a returning Olivier Megaton, Taken 3 will co-star Forest Whitaker (Out of the Furnace) and Dougray Scott (Mission: Impossible II), as well as a returning Famke Janssen, and is due to be released on January 8th next year in the UK, before making its official US release date the following day (on January 9th 2015).
Matt Wheeldon – @TheMattWheeldon.
Source: USA Today/Empire online.
