# Taken (franchise)
**Taken** is an action-thriller franchise consisting of three theatrical films starring [Liam Neeson](https://www.edgepedia.org/liam-neeson) as Bryan Mills, a retired CIA operative who uses his training to rescue or protect his family, together with an NBC prequel television series. The first film, *Taken*, was directed by Pierre Morel from a screenplay by [Luc Besson](https://www.edgepedia.org/luc-besson) and [Robert Mark Kamen](https://www.edgepedia.org/robert-mark-kamen), produced by the French studio EuropaCorp, and released in 2008 before opening in North American theaters on January 30, 2009.[1](https://www.the-numbers.com/movies/franchise/Taken) • [2](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/franchise/fr4689669/?sort=grossToDate&sortDir=asc) • [3](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/taken/) Its commercial success turned Neeson, then in his mid-50s, into an action star and produced two sequels, *Taken 2* (2012) and *Taken 3* (2015), both directed by Olivier Megaton.[4](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/225689/en/filmshome/) • [5](https://www.koreafilm.or.kr/library/search/video/00079568)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Films | *Taken* (2008), *Taken 2* (2012), *Taken 3* (2015); all distributed by 20th Century Fox in North America[2](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/franchise/fr4689669/?sort=grossToDate&sortDir=asc) |
| Worldwide gross | $226,941,585; $377,807,404; $327,656,424 respectively[1](https://www.the-numbers.com/movies/franchise/Taken) |
| Budgets | $25 million, $45 million, and $48 million respectively[1](https://www.the-numbers.com/movies/franchise/Taken) |
| Critical reception | Rotten Tomatoes: 60% (*Taken*), 22% (*Taken 2*), 13% (*Taken 3*); Metacritic: 51, 45, 26[6](https://www.itsprime.media/2024/5/13/10-movie-franchises-where-the-first-film-is-the-best-one/) |
| Television series | NBC prequel *Taken* (2017–2018), two seasons, starring Clive Standen as a younger Bryan Mills[7](https://www.inwhatorder.com/taken) |
| Creators | Pierre Morel (director of the first film); Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen (writers)[3](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/taken/) • [8](https://www.hollywood.com/movies/taken-2-writer-talks-sequelizing-says-success-means-taken-3-is-on-exclusive-59092896) |
## The first film
*Taken* follows Bryan Mills, a retired CIA agent whose 17-year-old daughter Kim ([Maggie Grace](https://www.edgepedia.org/maggie-grace)) is kidnapped in Paris by traffickers while traveling in Europe; he pursues the gang using the skills from his former career.[9](https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/bitstreams/54826785-6e15-4c32-8527-2014ec913eaa/download) [Famke Janssen](https://www.edgepedia.org/famke-janssen) plays his ex-wife Lenore.[3](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/taken/) The film's best-known element is the phone call in which Mills warns his daughter's kidnappers about his "particular set of skills," a speech that became one of the most quoted moments in recent action cinema.[10](https://time.com/4040456/taken-prequel-tv-series/)
**A sleeper hit.** The film opened in France in April 2008, and North American audiences did not see it until January 2009, when it debuted at $24.7 million and went on to gross $145 million domestically and about $227 million worldwide against a $25 million budget.[1](https://www.the-numbers.com/movies/franchise/Taken) • [2](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/franchise/fr4689669/?sort=grossToDate&sortDir=asc) The American opening shocked Hollywood: months of rumors had suggested the Liam Neeson-starring movie would go direct-to-DVD.[8](https://www.hollywood.com/movies/taken-2-writer-talks-sequelizing-says-success-means-taken-3-is-on-exclusive-59092896) Neeson himself had no idea the film would take off the way it did, having described the series as "corny" and expected a straight-to-video release.[11](https://www.cinemablend.com/movies/liam-neeson-embarrassed-taken-focused-funny-favor-sons-friend-love-franchise)
Critics were mixed. The film holds 60% on Rotten Tomatoes and a Metascore of 51, with the consensus describing it as "undeniably fun with slick action, but largely a brainless exercise."[12](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/taken?nopop=1) Reviewers called it efficient and absurd, praising Neeson as compelling in the lead while noting that contrivances and leaps in logic weighed the film down.[13](https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/article/Critics-Consensus-Taken-Is-A-Near-Miss/)
## The sequels
**Taken 2 (2012).** Olivier Megaton took over as director, with Besson and Kamen again writing. Set in Istanbul, the sequel has Mills and his ex-wife taken hostage by the father of a kidnapper Mills killed while rescuing his daughter.[4](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/225689/en/filmshome/) It earned more than the original worldwide, $377.8 million on a $45 million budget, but critics were far cooler; Rotten Tomatoes recorded 22%, finding the film "largely bereft of the kinetic thrills, and surprises, that made the original a hit."[1](https://www.the-numbers.com/movies/franchise/Taken) • [14](https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/article/Critics-Consensus-Taken-2-Is-Less-Than-Captivating/)
**Taken 3 (2015).** Megaton returned, and the formula changed: instead of a kidnapping, Mills is framed for the murder of his ex-wife and must evade the police while finding the real killers, with [Forest Whitaker](https://www.edgepedia.org/forest-whitaker) joining the cast as an investigating detective.[15](https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/article/critics-consensus-taken-3/) It opened to an estimated $40.4 million in North America, closer to *Taken 2*'s $49.5 million opening than the first film's $24.7 million, and finished with $327.7 million worldwide on a $48 million budget.[16](https://time.com/3662928/taken-weekend-box-office-movies-selma/) • [1](https://www.the-numbers.com/movies/franchise/Taken) It was the worst-reviewed entry, at 13% on Rotten Tomatoes and 26 on Metacritic, with critics calling it too slackly paced and frenetically edited.[6](https://www.itsprime.media/2024/5/13/10-movie-franchises-where-the-first-film-is-the-best-one/) • [15](https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/article/critics-consensus-taken-3/)
## The television series
In September 2015, NBC ordered a straight-to-series prequel centered on a young Bryan Mills, with Luc Besson, who co-wrote the films, as executive producer; the show was set in modern times rather than decades earlier, deliberately skewing the films' timeline.[10](https://time.com/4040456/taken-prequel-tv-series/) EuropaCorp TV opted to go younger for what Besson called "a genesis series, depicting the evolution of the character," and executive producer Alexander Cary chose [Clive Standen](https://www.edgepedia.org/clive-standen), a British actor and martial artist known for *Camelot*, *Robin Hood*, and his role as Rollo on History's *[Vikings](https://www.edgepedia.org/vikings-tv-series)*.[17](https://www.tvinsider.com/106407/winter-preview-2017-taken-moves-to-the-small-screen/) The series, titled *Taken*, premiered in 2017 and ran two seasons through 2018.[7](https://www.inwhatorder.com/taken)
## Influence
**A new genre of older action stars.** The franchise's commercial pattern, modest budgets returning several times their cost, made it a model that Hollywood followed with other older male action stars; [Kevin Costner](https://www.edgepedia.org/kevin-costner) in *[3 Days to Kill](https://www.edgepedia.org/3-days-to-kill)* and [Sean Penn](https://www.edgepedia.org/sean-penn) in *The Gunman* were among the actors cast in similar vehicles, and Neeson himself continued in comparable films such as *Non-Stop* and *Run All Night*. Commentators have described this cycle as its own genre, sometimes called "dadsploitation."
[18](https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2015/apr/01/liam-neeson-dadsploitation-films-taken-female-protagonists) Director Pierre Morel has been credited with creating what one interview called "the vengeance-of-Liam Neeson genre."
[19](https://grantland.com/hollywood-prospectus/qa-director-pierre-morel-on-the-gunman-taken-rampaging-bulls-and-creating-the-vengeance-of-liam-neeson-genre/?print=1)
The first film's premise has also drawn academic criticism for its portrayal of trafficking and of foreigners. Casey Ryan Kelly, a scholar of communication studies, describes *Taken* as a neocolonial narrative in which the protection of white feminine purity legitimates both male conquest abroad and overbearing protection of young women at home.[20](https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/commstudiespapers/206/) A Metacritic-cited review likewise noted a "xenophobic element" in the idea that travel even to [Western Europe](https://www.edgepedia.org/western-europe) is unsafe for Americans and that foreigners are by nature sinister.[21](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/taken/critic-reviews/)
## References
1. [Taken Franchise Box Office History, The Numbers](https://www.the-numbers.com/movies/franchise/Taken)
2. [Franchise: Taken, Box Office Mojo](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/franchise/fr4689669/?sort=grossToDate&sortDir=asc)
3. [Taken, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/taken/)
4. [Taken 2, Cineuropa](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/225689/en/filmshome/)
5. [테이큰 3 (Taken 3), Korean Film Archive](https://www.koreafilm.or.kr/library/search/video/00079568)
6. [10 Movie Franchises Where The First Film Is The Best One, Its Prime Media](https://www.itsprime.media/2024/5/13/10-movie-franchises-where-the-first-film-is-the-best-one/)
7. [Taken Release Order, InWhatOrder](https://www.inwhatorder.com/taken)
8. ['Taken 2' Writer Talks Sequelizing, Says Success Means 'Taken 3' Is On, Hollywood.com](https://www.hollywood.com/movies/taken-2-writer-talks-sequelizing-says-success-means-taken-3-is-on-exclusive-59092896)
9. [ScholarWorks@GSU thesis excerpt on Taken](https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/bitstreams/54826785-6e15-4c32-8527-2014ec913eaa/download)
10. [A Taken Prequel TV Series Is In The Works At NBC, Time](https://time.com/4040456/taken-prequel-tv-series/)
11. [Liam Neeson Says He Was 'Embarrassed' By Taken, CinemaBlend](https://www.cinemablend.com/movies/liam-neeson-embarrassed-taken-focused-funny-favor-sons-friend-love-franchise)
12. [Taken, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/taken?nopop=1)
13. [Critics Consensus: Taken Is A Near Miss, Rotten Tomatoes](https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/article/Critics-Consensus-Taken-Is-A-Near-Miss/)
14. [Critics Consensus: Taken 2 Is Less Than Captivating, Rotten Tomatoes](https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/article/Critics-Consensus-Taken-2-Is-Less-Than-Captivating/)
15. [Critics Consensus: Taken 3 Is Less Than Captivating, Rotten Tomatoes](https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/article/critics-consensus-taken-3/)
16. [Taken 3 Takes Weekend Box Office, Time](https://time.com/3662928/taken-weekend-box-office-movies-selma/)
17. [Winter Preview 2017: 'Taken' Moves to the Small Screen, TV Insider](https://www.tvinsider.com/106407/winter-preview-2017-taken-moves-to-the-small-screen/)
18. [Why Liam Neeson's dadsploitation films shut out women, The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2015/apr/01/liam-neeson-dadsploitation-films-taken-female-protagonists)
19. [Q&A: Director Pierre Morel on 'The Gunman,' 'Taken,' and Creating the Vengeance-of-Liam Neeson Genre, Grantland](https://grantland.com/hollywood-prospectus/qa-director-pierre-morel-on-the-gunman-taken-rampaging-bulls-and-creating-the-vengeance-of-liam-neeson-genre/?print=1)
20. [Feminine Purity and Masculine Revenge-Seeking in Taken (2008), Casey Ryan Kelly, University of Nebraska](https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/commstudiespapers/206/)
21. [Taken critic reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/taken/critic-reviews/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Film characters and fictional worlds › Action and thriller film characters*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license