Letting freedom ring.

America has a particular set of skills, and history isn’t one of them.

“Taken 3,” with a 12% Rotten Tomatoes rating, shot up everything at the box office this weekend, grossing $40 mil domestically. This is down from “Taken 2”’s take ($49 mil), but that film opened in October. The original debuted in January 2009 and raked in $24 mil on its way to $145. Don't expect that overall gross here. Instead, fast and furious. Short shelf life.  

“Selma,” expanding from 22 theaters to 2,179, was a distant second, earning $11 mil. I’m curious about the racial demographics of the audience on this one. Even “Ride Along,” last January’s “urban” comedy, opened to $41 mil. So many are willing to go to that, but no one wants to see the first feature-length film focusing on MLK? Or are they saving it for next weekend?

The rest of the top 10 took big hits. “The Woman in Black 2,” per the horror genre, dropped 68% and fell from 4th to 9th. “Hobbit,” “Unbroken,” “Night at the Museum,” “Annie” and “Hunger Games” all fell in the 50s. “Into the Woods,” in third place, did the best of hanging on: It dropped in the 40s.

BTW: the $4 mil “Hunger Games: Mockingjay” earned puts it within $4 mil of “Guardians of the Galaxy” for 2014’s biggest movie, domestically. Will probaby take 10-14 days to get there.