'Madea' goes straight to top of Friday box office

Tyler Perry's "Madea Goes to Jail" topped the North American box office Friday with an estimated $14.8 million in ticket sales.

Not facing any major competition, "Madea" opened at 2,032 locations, delivering quite a strong one-day gross. Starring Tyler Perry, this latest installment in the series follows Madea as she gets sent to prison. 

Still going very strong at No. 2 was Pierre Morel's thriller "Taken," which earned $3.4 million for a total of $87.2 million. In the film, Liam Neeson stars as a father who will stop at nothing to find his kidnapped daughter.

Following in third place Friday with $2.9 million was "He's Just Not That Into You." The Ken Kwapis-directed comedy lifted its domestic total to $64.4 million after two weeks in release.

At No. 4, Henry Selick's 3D stop-motion adventure "Coraline" picked up another $2.7 million, bringing its cumulative gross to $45.1 million. Last week's winner "Friday the 13th" dropped to No. 5, taking home $2.7 also for a cume of $49.9 million.

This weekend's only other wide release, "Fired Up!," only made it to No. 7 with a daily gross of $2.2 million.

Source: Box Office Mojo (www.boxofficemojo.com)