Weekend Box Office: 'The Grey' Takes #1, Liam Neeson Officially an Action Star

Either the slump is over or 2012 is bringing us more marketable movies, because business at the box office keeps picking up in surprising ways.

This week's big winner was "The Grey," the new action film starring Liam Neeson, who has more or less proved himself to be a bonafide action star. The survival tale earned a surprising $20 million, taking the top spot and almost making up the film's $25 million budget in the first three days.

In second place this weekend was "Underworld Awakening," making a respectable $12.5 million in it second weekend for a cume of $45.1 million. Not bad for the fourth movie in a vampire franchise that doesn't have Robert Pattinson or Taylor Lautner in it.

Katherine Heigl's new movie "One for the Money" snuck in at #3, despite awful reviews (the movie stands at 3% on Rotten Tomatoes currently). There were high hopes pinned on this one, which is based on the bestselling book by Janet Evanovich and could spawn a number of sequels with a successful outing. However, the $11.8 million that the movie made over the weekend may have been boosted by a Groupon deal for tickets... which subsequently means that the studio made far less than the sales would indicate (the Groupon offered tickets for about half price).

"Red Tails" had another strong weekend with $10.4 million in its second week, bringing its domestic total to date to $33.8 million. That's pretty good for a movie that producer George Lucas said couldn't get backing from Hollywood studios because they thought it wasn't marketable.

The third big release of the weekend, "Man on a Ledge," slid in at #5 with a haul of $8.3 million. That's not terribly impressive, and considering that the movie also did a Groupon-like deal (through LivingSocial), you can bet Summit is hoping for a good hold next weekend. The reviews for the movie weren't great, but the Cinemascore of B+ should help.

1. "The Grey" - $20 million
2. "Underworld Awakening" - $12.5 million ($45.1M)
3. "One for the Money" - $11.8 million
4. "Red Tails" - $10.4 million ($33.8M)
5. "Man on a Ledge" - $8.3 million