Liam Neeson tops box office for second time amid coronavirus pandemic

WASHINGTON: Hollywood star Liam Neeson is proving to be the king of the North American box office throughout the pandemic.

According to Fox News, the 68-year-old star's movie 'Honest Thief' shot to the top of the box office in October amid a slew of theatre closures that prompted several movie studios to postpone their major blockbuster releases until at least 2021, and now, the action thriller 'The Marksman,' has also reached the top of the charts.

According to Variety, the film debuted at No. 1 with USD 3.2 million in ticket sales and is expected to close out the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend with USD 3.7 million across 1,975 locations. That means it's a likely contender to finally unseat 'Wonder Woman: 1984' in its third week in theatres.

As reported by Fox News, the Gal Gadot-led superhero movie surprised everyone by performing well at the muted winter box office despite also releasing for free to HBO Max subscribers in a bid to cultivate viewership at a time when the coronavirus pandemic has made going to the theatre a difficult prospect for most Americans.

However, as Variety notes, alongside films like 'Wonder Woman: 1984,' 'Honest Thief' and Robert De Niro's 'The War With Grandpa,' 'The Marksman' joins the club of lowest-grossing box office toppers in modern history thanks to only 65 per cent of theatres in the U.S. being open for business.

Currently, 'Wonder Woman: 1984' is in a bit of a race for a second during the holiday weekend with 'The Croods: A New Age' edging close to its expected total of USD 2.6 million. Meanwhile, 'News of the World' with Tom Hanks is likely to finish fourth.

Fox News reports that 'The Marksman' sees Neeson playing an Arizona rancher who becomes the unlikely protector of a young Mexican boy who is being pursued by a cartel that means to assassinate him.