# 96 Hours
**96 Hours** is the German release title of *Taken*, a 2007 French action thriller directed by Pierre Morel, written by [Luc Besson](https://www.edgepedia.org/luc-besson) and [Robert Mark Kamen](https://www.edgepedia.org/robert-mark-kamen), and starring [Liam Neeson](https://www.edgepedia.org/liam-neeson) as a retired CIA agent who has 96 hours to rescue his kidnapped daughter from human traffickers in Paris[1](https://www.crew-united.com/fr/Taken__134457.html). The film was produced by EuropaCorp, M6 Films, and Grive Productions, with Besson and Pierre-Ange Le Pogam among its producers[1](https://www.crew-united.com/fr/Taken__134457.html) • [2](https://www.20thcenturystudios.com/movies/taken). Released in France on 27 February 2008 and in the United States on January 30, 2009, it became the most successful French film at the American box office to that point and launched a three-film franchise[3](https://www.cnc.fr/professionnels/visas-et-classification/117480) • [2](https://www.20thcenturystudios.com/movies/taken) • [4](https://echanges.dila.gouv.fr/OPENDATA/AMF/ECO/2009/02/FCECO010265_20090203.pdf).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Original title | *Taken*; released as *96 Hours* in Germany and as *96時間* in Japan[1](https://www.crew-united.com/fr/Taken__134457.html) • [5](https://www.20thcenturystudios.jp/movies/96hours) |
| Director and writers | Pierre Morel; screenplay by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen[1](https://www.crew-united.com/fr/Taken__134457.html) |
| Lead cast | Liam Neeson (Bryan Mills), Maggie Grace (Kim), Famke Janssen (Lenore)[1](https://www.crew-united.com/fr/Taken__134457.html) |
| Runtime and rating | 94 minutes in France (CNC visa 117480, 14 February 2008); 1h 30min and PG-13 for the US release[3](https://www.cnc.fr/professionnels/visas-et-classification/117480) • [2](https://www.20thcenturystudios.com/movies/taken) |
| Releases | France 27 February 2008; United States January 30, 2009[3](https://www.cnc.fr/professionnels/visas-et-classification/117480) • [2](https://www.20thcenturystudios.com/movies/taken) |
| Box office | Over $226 million worldwide against a $25 million budget[6](https://www.notices.mce.ca.gov/2026/06/taken-returns-as-a-streaming-hit-after-launching-an-action-franchise/) |
## Spoilers
### Plot and production
The story follows Bryan Mills, a former US secret-services agent living in Los Angeles, whose 17-year-old daughter Kim is abducted in Paris on the first day of a European trip, moments after a terrified phone call to her father[7](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/taken-2009). Using contacts and a recording of the call, Mills identifies the kidnapper as an Albanian man named Marko, whose ring drugs young tourists and forces them into prostitution, and he learns he has 96 hours to find his daughter before she is sold[7](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/taken-2009). The French synopsis describes the same premise: a father who can only listen helplessly by mobile phone as his daughter is seized, and who has only hours to tear her from a gang specialized in trafficking women[8](https://cineuropa.org/fr/film/82635/fr/newsdetail/rl/1/).
Director Pierre Morel had previously made the futuristic action film *District B13* and worked behind the camera with Luc Besson before taking the job; he said he accepted immediately once he knew Liam Neeson would star[9](https://www.comingsoon.net/movies/features/52415-exclusive-pierre-morel-talks-taken). Morel and Neeson had the cast perform their own action and stunts, which Morel credited with changing the look of the film[9](https://www.comingsoon.net/movies/features/52415-exclusive-pierre-morel-talks-taken). The French classification board rated the film for viewers aged 12 and older, noting violent scenes including a very realistic torture scene and a storyline about a network trafficking in women[3](https://www.cnc.fr/professionnels/visas-et-classification/117480).
### Franchise and later use of the title
The film's success produced two sequels, *Taken 2* (2012), which outgrossed the original with $376 million, and *Taken 3* (2015), which earned $326 million[6](https://www.notices.mce.ca.gov/2026/06/taken-returns-as-a-streaming-hit-after-launching-an-action-franchise/). In 2015 NBC ordered a straight-to-series prequel centered on a young Bryan Mills, with Besson as executive producer[13](https://time.com/4040456/taken-prequel-tv-series/); the series launched in 2017 to largely negative reviews and was canceled after two seasons[6](https://www.notices.mce.ca.gov/2026/06/taken-returns-as-a-streaming-hit-after-launching-an-action-franchise/). The film's "particular set of skills" phone speech became one of the most quoted lines in recent action cinema[13](https://time.com/4040456/taken-prequel-tv-series/).
The title *96 Hours* also belongs to an unrelated French film, *96 Heures* (2014), directed by Frédéric Schoendoerffer, in which a police unit chief kidnapped during a prisoner transfer has 96 hours to resist giving up the informant who betrayed him; it stars Gérard Lanvin, Niels Arestrup, and Sylvie Testud, with music by [Max Richter](https://www.edgepedia.org/max-richter), and runs 96 minutes[14](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/255474/).
## Release and box office
The film opened in France on 27 February 2008 and was then distributed in 43 other territories during 2008, totaling $69 million at the box office before its American launch[4](https://echanges.dila.gouv.fr/OPENDATA/AMF/ECO/2009/02/FCECO010265_20090203.pdf). It had drawn more than 1 million cinema admissions in France over those eleven months[4](https://echanges.dila.gouv.fr/OPENDATA/AMF/ECO/2009/02/FCECO010265_20090203.pdf).
Its US opening weekend on January 30, 2009 brought in $24.6 million and took first place, the best opening figures ever for a French film in the United States and the second-best release ever for a [Super Bowl](https://www.edgepedia.org/super-bowl) weekend[4](https://echanges.dila.gouv.fr/OPENDATA/AMF/ECO/2009/02/FCECO010265_20090203.pdf). Against a budget of $25 million, the film ultimately grossed over $226 million worldwide[6](https://www.notices.mce.ca.gov/2026/06/taken-returns-as-a-streaming-hit-after-launching-an-action-franchise/). A Unifrance press dossier states that *Taken* remains, as of that publication, the biggest success achieved by a French film at the American box office[10](https://medias.unifrance.org/medias/88/73/84312/presse/taken-2-dossier-de-presse-francais.pdf).
## Critical reception
Critical response was mixed. Roger Ebert, the [Chicago Sun-Times](https://www.edgepedia.org/chicago-sun-times) critic who won the [Pulitzer Prize](https://www.edgepedia.org/pulitzer-prize) for criticism in 1975, described Mills as a one-man rescue squad and a killing machine, judged the setup completely unbelievable, and concluded that viewers who wanted that kind of picture would probably like it[7](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/taken-2009). Reviewers also noted the film's brisk, vindictive energy and its premise's unexamined ethnic stereotypes[11](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/taken/critic-reviews/). Academic work has read the film as part of a post-9/11 return of the vigilante figure in popular culture[12](https://pure.royalholloway.ac.uk/en/publications/resurrecting-the-vigilante-paternal-sovereignty-exceptionality-an/).
## References
1. [Taken, Crew United](https://www.crew-united.com/fr/Taken__134457.html)
2. [Taken, 20th Century Studios](https://www.20thcenturystudios.com/movies/taken)
3. [Visas et Classification: TAKEN, CNC](https://www.cnc.fr/professionnels/visas-et-classification/117480)
4. [Best opening figures ever for a French film in the United States, EuropaCorp press release, 3 February 2009](https://echanges.dila.gouv.fr/OPENDATA/AMF/ECO/2009/02/FCECO010265_20090203.pdf)
5. [96時間, 20th Century Studios Japan](https://www.20thcenturystudios.jp/movies/96hours)
6. [Taken Returns as a Streaming Hit After Launching an Action Franchise, MCE Notices](https://www.notices.mce.ca.gov/2026/06/taken-returns-as-a-streaming-hit-after-launching-an-action-franchise/)
7. [96 hours to save his daughter from a fate worse than death, Roger Ebert, RogerEbert.com](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/taken-2009)
8. [Taken, Cineuropa](https://cineuropa.org/fr/film/82635/fr/newsdetail/rl/1/)
9. [Exclusive: Pierre Morel Talks Taken, ComingSoon.net](https://www.comingsoon.net/movies/features/52415-exclusive-pierre-morel-talks-taken)
10. [Taken 2 dossier de presse, Unifrance](https://medias.unifrance.org/medias/88/73/84312/presse/taken-2-dossier-de-presse-francais.pdf)
11. [Taken critic reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/taken/critic-reviews/)
12. [Resurrecting the vigilante: paternal sovereignty, exceptionality and familial security in Taken (2008) and Taken 2 (2013), Royal Holloway](https://pure.royalholloway.ac.uk/en/publications/resurrecting-the-vigilante-paternal-sovereignty-exceptionality-an/)
13. [A Taken Prequel TV Series Is In The Works At NBC, TIME](https://time.com/4040456/taken-prequel-tv-series/)
14. [96 Heures, Cineuropa](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/255474/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Action and adventure films (individual works) › Action thrillers, 2000s*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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